De. 1 2. It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea. 19 And we journeyed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which ye saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. 46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there. Nu. 33 1 These are the journeys [or stages] of the children of Israel, when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. And they journeyed from Rithmah, and pitched in Rimmon-perez. And they journeyed from Rimmon-perez, and pitched in Libnah. And they journeyed from Libnah, and pitched in Rissah. And they journeyed from Rissah, and pitched in Kehelathah. And they journeyed from Kehelathah, and pitched in mount Shepher. And they journeyed from mount Shepher, and pitched in Haradah. And they journeyed from Haradah, and pitched in Makheloth. And they journeyed from Makheloth, and pitched in Tahath. And they journeyed from Tahath, and pitched in Terah. And they journeyed from Terah, and pitched in Mithkah. And they journeyed from Mithkah, and pitched in Hashmonah. And they journeyed from Hashmonah, and pitched in Moseroth. And they journeyed from Moseroth, and pitched in Bene-jaakan. And they journeyed from Bene-jaakan, and pitched in Hor-haggidgad. And they journeyed from Hor-haggidgad, and pitched in Jotbathah. And they journeyed from Jotbathah, and pitched in Abronah. And they journeyed from Abronah, and pitched in Ezion-geber. And they journeyed from Ezion-geber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin (the same is Kadesh). The previous section narrates the events which in the Wilderness of Paran, and announces the took place after reaching Kadesh (or Rithmah) Doom of Israel to an aimless wandering of nearly forty years and the death of the existing a-lut generation, excepting Caleb and Joshua. This section is designed to cover the general points of interest connected with the long period of thirty-seven to thirty-eight years, which historically is almost a chasm. The single occurrence certainly transpiring during this period is narrated in the following section. The order proposed, in presenting these general points, is: (1) A geographical survey of the Wilderness of Paran, in which our map facing the title-page will be explained; (2) the location of Kadesh, second in importance only to Sinai in this history; (3) the stations named and the probable life of the people during the thirty-seven and a half years of wandering. B. In following the route of the Israelites, the general direction is northward from Sinai "to the mount of the Amorites," the highlands of Southern Palestine. The two extremes are the camp before Sinai on the south, and the "city" of KADESH, or Kadesh-barnea, on the north. The distance between these points was eleven days' journey, about one hundred and sixty-five miles. Their final entrance into Palestine was made from the east, by way of the plains of Moab; but their first entrance was to have been from the south, by way of Hebron. This is clear from the command to march to the mountain of the Amorites: from the description of the circuit made by the spies, and especially from their visiting Hebron and Esheol. Whatever, therefore, the route to Kadesh may have been, that station was a final starting-point for Hebron; and thus we have some guide for the latter part of the journey. Between "the mount of the Amorites" and the group of Sinai lies the great table-land now called the desert of et-Tih (the wandering). There can be no doubt of its general correspondence to the Wilderness of Paran. The general limits of this wilderness are clearly marked out by the mountain ranges which divide it, on the southwest from the Desert of Shur, on the south from that of Sinai, and on the east from the Arabah. P. S. The borders of the Biblical Desert of Paran correspond, on the whole, to the boundaries assigned by the modern Bedouins to the Desert of et-Tih. It embraces the tract of desert between Egypt, Palestine, and the mountains of Seir, which is separated from the Sinaitic peninsula (in the strictest sense) by the border mountains of et-Tih. This broad, desert tract of table-land is completely surrounded by a fringe of desert on a lower level. The Desert of Jifar (or Shur) divides it on the west from the Egyptian territory, on the southwest beyond the mountains of er-Rahah, from the Heroopolitan gulf, and on the northwest from the Mediterranean. On the north it is separated from the mountains of the Amorites, the southern slope of the table-land of Palestine, by the broad valley of Murreh, or the Wilderness of Zin. On the east it falls abruptly into the Arabah, which divides it from the mountains of the Edomites; and on the south, on the other side of the mountains of et-Tih, stretches the sandy desert-plain of er-Ramleh, out of which the promontories of the mountains of Serbal and Sinai immediately rise. The Old Testament furnishes indisputable proofs that the Desert of Paran was quite as extensive as this. This large tract of desert slopes generally downward in the direction from south to north, and rises from west to east, until it falls abruptly into the Arabah. In De. 1:19 it is most appropriately designated a "great and terrible desert." In general, it consists of table-land, on which bare limestone and sandstone rocks, dazzling chalk and red sand-hills, are almost the sole relief from the parched and barrent tracts of sand, interspersed with gravel and black flint-stones. At the same time, so much water falls in the wadies during the rainy season, that a scanty supply of grass and herbs may be found for the support of passing herds. There are also a few wells and fountains with a constant supply of water. The desert is divided into two halves, an eastern and a western, by the Wady el-Arish (called in the Old Testament (Nu. 34:4, 5) "brook of Egypt"), which runs completely from north to south. Although there are several by no means inconsiderable mountains in the western half, it is distinguished from the eastern by a far greater regularity and flatness in the soil. [But it is to the eastern half that our attention is to be especially directed, as to that section, and chiefly its northern part, the sojourn of the Israelites was exclusively confined.] In the eastern half a large mountain range, the Jebel Ojmeh, branches off northeasterly from the Jebel et-Tih, near to the mouths of the Wady el-Arish. The southern portion of this eastern half (about two thirds of the whole) has throughout a similar character to the western. It consists of barren, sandy table-land, the surface of which is broken by but a very small number of isolated mountains. Its slope toward the northeast is indicated by the large Wady Jerofeh, which runs in a northeasterly direction to the Arabah. But the northern third of this eastern half has a totally different character. There suddenly rises from the plain a strong mountain fastness, of a rhomboid shape and of the same breadth as the Wady Jerafeh, at the point where it joins the Arabah; and this mountain covers the northern portion of the eastern half of the desert. At the present day it is called, after its inhabitants, the mountain country of the Azazimeh. This mountain country rises precipitously from the surrounding valleys or plains on the south, the east, and the north; and it is only on the western side that it slopes off more gradually toward the Wady el-Arish. As it is completely detached on every side, and forms a compact mass with its gigantic mountain groups, it presents the most striking contrast to the desert by which it is surrounded, and would be altogether isolated, "were it not that, toward the northwest, instead of terminating abruptly in a corner column, a line of mountains intervenes, and thus prevents entire separation from the Amorite mountains." The southern boundary wall of this mountain fortress is formed by a range which rises steeply and in an imposing manner from the desert, and runs in a straight line from west to east, and which towers up to an immense height at both the eastern and western ends. The corner column toward the east, quite close to the Arabah, is called Jebel Mekrah, and that toward the west Jebel Araif en-Nakah. The eastern wall rises with equal abruptness from the Arabah, but is intersected by several defiles, which furnish approaches of more or less difficulty into our mountain fortress. The northern boundary wall, Jebel Halal, which had remained altogether unknown until very recently, is cut off almost vertically by a broad defile, the Wady Murreh, which runs from east to west, and opens into the Arabah. On the other side of this valley, the plateau Rakmah, the southern rampart of the Palestinian mountains of the Amorites, rises perpendicularly. The Wady Murreh is as much as ten or fifteen miles broad. At the eastern extremity the solitary mountain of Madurah (Modera) rises in the very midst of the valley. To the south of this mountain the principal valley bends in a southeasterly direction toward the Arabah, still bearing the name of Wady Murreh, and to the north of the Madurah a side branch of the valley leads through el-Ghor to the Dead Sea, under the name of Wady Fikreh. When passing (westward) through the Wady Murreh, the ascent is constant from the lowest level of the Arabah, and therefore the relative height of the mountain walls, by which it is enclosed on the north and south, is continually diminishing. You proceed westward, and ardrive at length at the link, already referred to, by which the south-western corner of the Amoritish plateau of Rakmah is connected with the northwestern corner of the Azazimat. This link is formed by an eminence to the east of Eboda (Abdeh), "from which the Jebel Garrah and Jebel Gamar emerge, the former toward the northwest, and the latter to the southwest, and encircle Eboda in the form of an amphitheatre." The western wall of the mountain fortress runs in a straight line from its southern corner (Jebel Araif en-Nakah) to the northern heights, which unite it with the Rakmah, and bears the names of Jebel Yaled and Moyleh (or Moilahi). It is a lofty mountain range, from three to four hundred feet high, which is intersected by numerous wadies, running parallel to one another from north to south, and all opening into the Wady el-Arish. The road from Sinai to Hebron passes at the foot of this western wall of the Azazimat, and through the undulating tract of desert land which lies between it and the Wady el-Arish. As you pass along the ordinary road to Hebron, on the western side of the mountainous district of the Azazimeh, the whole of the mountain slopes between Jebel Araif and Jebel Khalil (or the heights of Hebron) appear to form a continued and unbroken range. But just as the separation of the mountains of the Amorites from the northern wall of the Azazimat, by the Wady Murreh, is concealed by the link which connects the two together to the east of Eboda; so do the projecting ranges of the western wall of the Azazimat keep out of sight an extended desert plain, which runs for many miles into the heart of the Azazimat on the other side of the Jebel Moyleh, and into which several wadies open from the eastern side of the mountain (e.g., the Wady Kesaimeh, the Wady Muweilih [Moilahi], and the Wady Retemat). "In the remote background, surrounded by the wilderness, there stands in a state of remarkable isolation the strong rock with its copious spring—the spot which still bears the ancient name of Kadesh (Ain Gadis), and of which Howlands was the discoverer." That this is the wilderness of Kadesh, which plays so important a part in the history of the sojourn of the Israelites, is apparently no longer open to dispute. From the peculiar configuration of the soil, we may easily understand why this plain, which has a distinct name of its own (viz., Kadesh), should sometimes be regarded as a part of the Desert of Paran (et-Tih), and at other times as belonging to that of Zin (the plain of Murreh). Kurtz. # Route of Israelites from Sinai to Kadesh Of the ways open to the Israelites from Sinai to the southern boundary of Canaan, the most easterly led along the western shore of the Elanitic Gulf to the Arabah, and then through the Arabah to the southeastern border of Canaan. But, however well adapted the road through the broad valley of the Arabah may appear, such a supposition is inconsistent with De. 1 : 19, where the Israelites are said to have traversed "the whole of the great and terrible desert," by which we can only understand the Desert of et-Tih; and this they would never have touched at all if they had taken the easterly road. Ewald, Tuch, Winer, R. Schwarz, and Fries are all agreed that they took the westerly road, which leads from Horeb to Hebron across the mountains of et-Tih and the large tract of table-land of the same name, by the western foot of the Jebel Araif, and which is taken by most of the travellers to Sinai at the present day. K. When the Israelites moved over from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, they went across the "great and terrible wilderness;" which would not have been the case had they skirted the eastern peninsula into and along the Arabah. That "wilderness" must have been the elevated desert-plateau of et-Tih. In journeying by the "Way of Mount Seir," they simply took the easternmost road out of the Mount Sinai group; a road bearing the name and trending in the direction of Mount Seir, but which they followed no farther than brought them to the border of the wilderness beyond which lay the land of their seeking. They took the Mount Seir Road, but they did not pursue that road to Mount Seir. On the face of it, the Amorite Hill-country Road would seem to have been that one road which presents itself for a desert-crossing to a northward-bound traveller coming out of the Mount Sinai group by the easternmost or Mount Seir Road. That is the road which leads to the Amorite Hill-country. It is obviously the road which the Israelites would have taken unless, indeed, they were compelled to go elsewhere for reasons not yet indicated. Of late, a possibility of an alternative road through the Azazimeh mountain tract, running diagonally northwestward from the southeastern corner of that tract, has been suggested. It was reserved for the experienced Holland to note the possibility of such a road out from the Desert et-Tih. It was on his last visit to the peninsula that he first ascertained that Jebel Makrah was separated from Jebel Jerafeh, at the southeastern corner of that mass of mountains, instead of the two mountains being in a connected and unbroken range, as was before supposed. Between these two mountains there is a roadway, which Holland thinks finds its course up to the borders of Canaan—to the Amorite Hill-country. Wherever Hazeroth may have been, and whether the Israelites passed into the Azazimeh mountain tract from that southeastern corner, near Jebel Makrah, or kept on along the southern face of that tract until they rounded Jebel Araif en-Nakah—their third encampment was at the strategic stronghold (within that tract), then known as Rithmah, afterward as Kadesh, yet later as En-mishpat, later still as Meribah-Kadesh, and now as Wady Gadis. Kadesh-barnea has a manifold importance in the sacred story. It looms up as the objective point of the Israelites in their movement from Sinai to the Promised Land. It is the place of their testing, of their failure, of their judging, and of their dispersion. It is their rallying centre for the forty years of their wandering, and the place of their reassembling for their final move into the land of their longings. It is the scene of repeated and varied displays of God's power and of his people's faithlessness. And finally it is the hinge and pivot of the southern boundary of the holy land in history, and of the holy land in prophecy. H. C. T. Two stages alone of the journey are distinctly visible, from Sinai to Kadesh, and from Kadesh to Moab. Kadesh is in this stage of the history almost what Sinai was in the first. "He brought them to Mount Sinai" "and to Kadesh-barnea." It is the only place dignified by the name of a "city." The encampment there is distinct in character from any other in the wilderness, except the stay at Sinai. Stanley.—According to Nu. 20 : 13, Kadesh also received the name Meribah (Strife-water) and in Gen. 14 : 7 it occurs under the name of En-Mishpat (fountain of judgment or decision). The explanatory words, "that is Kadesh" (which occur in Gen.), seem to imply that En-Mishpat was the original name, and Kadesh a more recent one, which was not in existence in the time of Abraham. In Nu. 33 : 18 the place is called Rithmah, and not Kadesh; whereas in verse 36, after the infliction of the judgment, it is not called Rithmah, but Kadesh. K.—The place where the people murmured upon the return of the spies was now named Kadesh, because the Lord was there sanctified upon the people, and Barnea, or the wandering son, because here was the decree made of their long wandering in the wilderness. They continued a good space at Kadesh before they removed; for so said Moses, Ye abode in Kadesh many dogs. Lightfoot. Kadesh is to be recognized in the plain and fountain of Gadis, just within the northwest corner of the mountains of the Azazimeh. This desert plain, some ten miles by six in extent, is screened from ordinary observation by the outer mountain walls of the Azazimat, which shut it off on the west from the desert road from Sinai to Hebron, on the north from the Wady Murreh. At the northeast of the plain is a bold and bare rock, a promontory of the northern mountain rampart, from the foot of which issues a copious spring, which begins by falling in cascades into the bed of a torrent, and ends by losing itself in the sands. The plain of Gadis is strictly within the limits of that southern desert now called et-Tih, and yet it is quite close to the Wady Murreh, which with its sandy expansions toward the east may well have been the Wilderness of Zin. R. W.—This plain, which we may confidently set down as the ancient Desert of Kadesh, embraces a superficial area of about nine or ten English miles in length, and five or six in breadth. The rock with the Ain Gadis is situated at the northeast of the plain, where it presents the appearance of a solitary promontory of the Jebel Halal. It is a bare rock, at the foot of which there issues a copious spring, which falls in beautiful cascades into the bed of a mountain torrent, and after flowing about four hundred paces in a westerly direction, is lost in the sand. "I have discovered Kadesh at last," writes Rowlands to Williams. "I look with amazement upon the stream from the rock which Moses smote, and the lovely waterfalls in which it descends into the bed of the brook below." K. I came to the place so glowingly described by Mr. Rowlands, and found it all that he had pictured. It was an oasis unapproached by any I had seen in the desert since leaving Feiran, and not surpassed, within its limits, by that. It was carpeted with grass and flowers. Fig-trees laden with fruit were against its limestone hillsides. Shrubs in richness and variety abounded. Standing out from the mountain range at the northward of the beautiful oasis amphitheatre, was the "large single mass or small hill of solid rock" which Rowlands looked at as the cliff (sela) smitten by Moses to cause it to "give forth its water" when its flowing had ceased. From beneath this cliff came the abundant stream. A well, walled up with time-worn limestone blocks, was the first receptacle of the water. Not far from this was a second well similarly walled, supplied from the same source. Around both these wells were ancient watering troughs of limestone. Several pools, not walled up, were also supplied from the stream. On from the line of these pools a gurgling stream flowed musically for several hundred yards and then lost itself in the verdure-covered desert. The water was clear and sweet and abundant. Two of the pools were ample for bathing. Before the cliff, and around its neighboring wells, camel and goat dung was trodden down as if by the accumulations of centuries, showing that the place was much frequented for watering purposes. Mr. Rowlands was certainly correct as to the name, the general location, and the description of this remarkable place. It is Gadis. There is a Jebel Gadis, a Wady Gadis, and an Ain Gadis. It is quite as far to the eastward as he put it, fully twelve to fifteen miles east-southeast of his Moilahhi, or Ain Muweilih. The wady at the head of which it is situated is an extensive and fertile plain, larger by far than er-Rahah before Jebel Musa, where the children of Israel received the Law. Remains of rude stone buildings and other ruins abound in the vicinity, showing that it was once a well-peopled region. H. C. T. For an exhaustive and conclusive treatment of this whole subject the reader is referred to Dr. Trumbull's admirable volume, entitled Kadesh-barnea, noted in "Index of Authors Cited." B. The connection between Kadesh and Gadis is as close as in almost any Hebrew and Arabic names now identified by modern scholars. Mr. Palmer speaks Arabic like a native, and he gives the name Gadis. Our dragoman was an Arabic-speaking Syrian, and he on the spot gave us the name; and we heard it from the lips of Suleiman, the sheikh, who definitely declared this fountain to be known to all the Arabs as Ain Gadis. There is, therefore, no mistake as to the name. S. C. B.—Ain Gadis, at the head of the Wady Gadis, the name being the exact Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew Kadesh (i.e., a sacred city or separated place), is just at the frontier of the south country of Judah, of which it is the key strategically, as its identification is the key topographically, to this part of the history of the wanderings. It exactly answers to the description of the Bible; the Israelites waiting, as it were, on the threshold of the southern portion of the Promised Land, and, from the evidence on all sides, we may fairly conclude that the surrounding country was better supplied with water than it is now; and that it was, therefore, at least as suitable for the encampment of the Israelitish hosts as any spot in Sinai. There are three springs which form shallow pools, one of them overflowing and producing a stream of water in the rainy season; its exact position is lat. 31° 34', long. 43° 31', and situated on the natural border of the country. We are here on one of the most interesting spots in early Scripture history. It is first mentioned in Gen. 14:7, in the account of the foray of Chedorlaomer, who crossed from Seir, or Petra, to Kadesh, defeated the Amorites, and then turned back to the northeast to Hazezon Tamar, or Engedi, by the Dead Sea. It is next mentioned in Gen. 16:14, as marking the situation of Hagar's Well, Beer-lahai-roi, which lay between Kadesh and Bered, a site not yet satisfactorily identified. Hence Joshua and Caleb, with their companions, were sent to spy out the country, and hither they returned with the grapes of Eshcol and their report of the land. Here broke out the murmuring; and here, after those who had brought up an evil report died of the plague, began the forty years' penal wandering in the wilderness. Hence, stung with shame and sudden remorse, the people, against the exhortations of Moses and without the presence of the Ark of the Covenant, went up against the Amalekites and the Canaanites, and were defeated and discomfited even unto Hormah (Nu. 14). Hither Israel returned after the rebellion of Korah; and here Miriam died and was buried (Nu. 20:1). H. B. T. The Position and Extent of the Desert of Zin. According to Nu. 13:26, Kadesh was within the limits of the Desert of Paran; but according to 20:1 and 27:14, it was in the Desert of Zin; and in 33:36 the Israelites are said to have pitched in "the Wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh." From this it clearly follows that Zin must have formed a part of the still more extensive Desert of Paran; and if the spies who were sent from the Desert of Paran surveyed the land "from the Wilderness of Zin unto Rehob" (13:21), it must have lain close to the southern border of Canaan. But the relative position of the various localities may be seen still more clearly from Nu. 34:3 sqq. and Josh. 15:1 sqq., where the southern boundary of Judah from the Dead Sea to the brook of Egypt on the Mediterranean - that is, from east to west -is said to have started from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, skirted the Scorpion Steps (Maaleh Akrabbim; that is, as Robinson correctly observes, the row of cliffs which runs diagonally across the el-Ghor in the form of an irregular curve, and constitutes the boundary between this valley and the more elevated Arabah), whence it passed along to Zin, and then upward to the south of Kadesh-barnea. If we take this according to the literal signification of the words, it is evident that Zin comprehended the tract of desert which runs from the Ghor in a westerly direction, winding round the steep walls of the mountains of the Amorites, and is bounded on the south by a range which runs parallel to the northern mountain rampart. Tuch. - Hence it consisted chiefly of the broad valley of Murreh, including the Wady Fikreh and the Delta enclosed within the two. It may also have been used in a still wider sense - namely, as including the plain of Kadesh also, since the rampart which separated this plain from the Wady Murreh cannot have been very high, and the desert has very much the same character as the plain. K. THE THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS' BAN: STATIONS; LIFE AND MAINTENANCE OF THE PEOPLE (De. 1:46. Nu. 33:19-36). They marched for thirty-seven years from that point round about, in the neighborhood of Kadesh; and therefore in the description of the encampments (Nu. 33:36), a resting-point was made there, and the objectless wandering through the wilderness is passed over. Gerl. - In a certain sense Israel never left Kadesh, and during the thirty-seven years this place had formed the northern boundary and principal point in that portion of the desert over which it was scattered, the southern boundary being on the Elanitic Gulf; and, secondly, that it was a matter of great importance, in connection with the general training of the Israelites, that at the close of the period of the curse inflicted by God, they should assemble together in the very same spot in which the sentence was first pronounced. Tuch. Nu. 33:19-36. The stations, whose names occur between Rithmah and Kadesh, undoubtedly refer to the principal quarters occupied by the Israelites (with the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, and the pillar of cloud) during their thirty-seven years' wandering in the desert. As Rithmah (verse 18) coincides geographically with Kadesh, the seventeen stations must have lain between the first and second visits to Kadesh. K. The stations named are those visited during the years of penal wandering. The determination of their positions is difficult, because during this period there was no definite line of march pursued. All indications thus far seem to show that the Israelites during this period did not overstep the boundaries of the Wilderness of Paran except to pass along the adjoining valley of the Arabah. Over the ridges of Paran then it is probable that for many years the people spread, while the tabernacle and organized camp moved about from place to place among them. Nu. 20 : 1 seems to hint, what is in itself natural and likely, that the "congregation" was during these years broken up. No doubt round the tabernacle there continued an organized camp consisting of the Levites and others, which was moved from time to time up and down the country. But there was no longer any reason for the coherence of the whole people in mass, and we may accordingly believe that they were scattered over the face of the Wilderness of Paran, and led a nomadic life as best suited the pasturage of the cattle. It is thus that the modern Bedouins maintain very large flocks and herds in these same deserts. "On one occasion," says Dr. J. L. Porter, "I rode for two successive days through the flocks of a section of the Anazeh tribe, and the encampment of the chief was then at a noted fountain thirty miles distant, at right angles to my course; yet the country was swarming with men and women, boys and girls, looking after the cattle." He adds with special reference to the Israelites, "The camp would be a mere nucleus. Yet as being the headquarters of the nation, containing the tabernacle, the priests, and the chiefs, and forming the rallying point for the warriors, it was the only place with which the sacred historian is concerned." Thus the encampments named would be various spots at which in the course of these years the tabernacle was for a time pitched. Espin. The indications of the text are that when the people found their progress into Canaan barred for a generation, they gradually scattered themselves among the wadies of the desert, living a nomad life—seeking sustenance by sowing and reaping with the divinely added supply of daily manna—having, all this time, Kadesh as the northernmost limit of their roving, and as, in a peculiar sense, the centre of their occupancy, or the pivot of their wanderings. Meantime, the tabernacle, with its ministry, would seem to have moved, under the Divine guidance, from place to place within the limits of the wanderings, as if on circuit, in order that Moses and Aaron might retain a spiritual oversight of the scattered people. Certain it is, that the popular opinion, of a formal marching to and fro in the desert for the forty years of wandering, finds no more countenance in the text than it does in reason—in view of the purposes of God with his people, and of the habits of Oriental nomads. In this light of the narrative, the stations named in the sacred text, for the period of the wanderings, may be taken either as the stations of the tabernacle on its circuit, or as the exceptionally prominent encampments of the people as a whole, at the earlier or at the later portion of that period. H. C. T. For a series of years the lawgiver and the nation pass mostly out of sight. He, it may be, was at work on those imperishable records that lie at the foundation of our religion. They were being trained and schooled by rites and observances, as by a series of object lessons for whyward children, into some reverence for a holy God; were shut away from sensual distractions to the pressure of his Law; were to be transformed by the life of the desert from the laxity of Egypt to the robustness of Palestine; and were to be bound together by bonds that have held them for three thousand years. An. So far as the sacred records were concerned, there was no history between the first and second encampments at Kadesh. From Sinai to Kadesh the Israelites were moving forward. At Kadesh they were on the very borders of Canaan: only one step farther, and their feet would stand upon the holy land of the pilgrimage of their fathers, which was destined to be their own inheritance. But during the thirty-seven years, about which the scriptural records are silent, the history of Israel did not advance a single step toward its immediate object, the conquest of the promised land. It was very different in the fortieth year, when they were journeying from Kadesh to the plains of Moab. According to De. 8 : 2-6, the whole forty years, including the thirty-seven years of detention, may be regarded in the same light, as years of training and temptation, of humiliation and blessing, of natural wants and supernatural assistance. The relation in which Jehovah stood to the nation was not altered by the sentence of detention; and the people continued essentially the same in their relation to Jehovah, always ready to despair, constantly murmuring, easily excited to rebellion; but always rising again after their fall, and penitent after their sin. K. #### Support in the Wilderness. There was, it is evident, in former times, a growth both of the larger sorts of trees and of smaller shrubs, of which we have no remnant; there was also a large number of plants which might contribute in part to the sustenance of Israel during the journey; there was a universally distributed agriculture, as we learn from the existence of mines, and from the oldest Egyptian habitations, as well as from the Christian monuments which are everywhere found—cloisters, hermitages, walls, gardens, and fountains; and, lastly, there is an evident possibility that there was a much greater supply of water in the wadies, more abundant rain-storms, and the possibility of economizing the supplies thus gained by a use of the same appliances which were common elsewhere in countries similarly situated and conditioned. Ritter. The water-supply of this whole region, though scanty, is much more considerable than has usually been represented. After a journey through this region with various détours, undertaken with special reference to the conformity of the narration to the region, and on the constant lookout for water, pasturage, and the means of subsistence, the writer found that conformity much more striking, even, than he had anticipated. He reached substantially the same conclusion with Wellsted, that with sufficient care, there is "no reason why there should have been a lack of water," ordinarily—although at times great straits must occur—but that the grand and constant difficulty would have been to find a supply of food. This difficulty seems insuperable. And the consistency of the Biblical narrative is in nothing more manifest than in the fact that it narrates the Divine interposition to give the people water as only an exceptional thing, but the miraculous supply of food as constant and permanent. S. C. B. That the Israelites availed themselves of the means of support which the wilderness afforded them, in common with these tribes of the desert, is clear from what is mentioned of their flocks and herds. They are expressly said to have left Egypt with large property in these; and that they were enabled to preserve, and even perhaps to increase, these possessions, we may gather from the notices subsequently given concerning them, especially from the mention made of the cattle, when they sought liberty to pass through the territory of Edom; and from the very large accumulation of flocks and herds by Gad and Reuben, which led to their obtaining a portion beyond the bounds of what was properly the promised land. The Israelites thus had within themselves considerable resources as to the supply of food; and the sale of the skins and wool, and what they could spare from the yearly increase of their possessions, would enable them to purchase again from others. Besides, the treasure which they brought with them from Egypt, and the traffic which they might carry on in the fruit, spices, and other native productions of the desert, would furnish them with the means of obtaining provisions in the way of commerce. Nor have we any reason to think that the Israelites neglected these natural opportunities, but rather the reverse. So that the period of their sojourn in the wilderness may have been, and most probably was, far from being characterized by the inactivity and destitution which is commonly supposed; for Moses not only speaks of their buying provisions, but also of the Lord having "blessed them in all the works of their hands, and suffered them to lack nothing." P. F. Such a lot was hard enough, with all its necessary trials, and with its hope constantly deferred; but it is consistent and intelligible. It may be left to imagination to fill up the picture of the doomed generation dropping off year by year, and of the lesson impressed on their children by seeing their carcasses left in the wilderness. Nor must it be forgotten that this passage also of their history is emblematic of the whole pilgrimage of man, who must toil on to his rest through a path marked by the graves of his illusions and his sins. P. S. During this long time all but a few of those who were above twenty years old at the commencement of that period had died off, according to the sentence pronounced upon that generation; and of these few the residue, all but the two faithful spies, Caleb and Joshua, seem to have been removed before entering the promised land. This remarkable consequence followed, that none (with two exceptions) being above sixty years of age—there were, in fact, no aged men in the camp, no elders, none unfit by reason of age to bear arms in active warfare. Thus, therefore, the new Israel was not only better trained, morally, for the great work before it, but was physically more equal to it; the host being encumbered with no useless members, but every man being fit to stand up as a soldier in the Lord's host. Kit. REBELLION AND DESTRUCTION OF KORAH, DATHAN, AND ABIRAM. MURMURING OF THE PEOPLE PUNISHED. THE PLAGUE STAYED THROUGH AARON'S INTERCESSION. TEST OF THE RODS. De. 2 26 And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of 27 Heshbon with words of peace, saying, Let me pass through thy land : I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the 28 right hand nor to the left. Thou shalt sell me food for money, that I may eat ; and give me water for money, that I may drink : only 29 let me pass through on my feet ; as the children of Esau which dwell in Scir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me ; until I shall pass over Jordan into the land 30 which the LORD our God giveth us. But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him : for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as at this 31 day. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before thee : begin to possess, that thou may 32 est inherit his land. Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle 33 at Jahaz. And the LORD our God delivered him up before us ; and we smote him, and 34 his sons, and all his people. And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining: 35 only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we 36 had taken. From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even unto Gilead, there was not a city too high for us: the LORD our God delivered up all before us: 37 only to the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wheresoever the LORD our God forbad us. 3 1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, unto 2 battle at Edrei. And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which 3 dwelt at Heshbon. So the LORD our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. 4 And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we took not from them; threescore cities, all the region of 5 Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these were cities fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside the unwalled towns 6 a great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, 7 with the women and the little ones. But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we look 8 for a prey unto ourselves. And we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond Jordan, from the valley of Arnon unto mount 9 Hermon; (which Hermon the Sidonians call 10 Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir); all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salecah and Edrei, cities 11 of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. (For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.) In striking contrast with the west of Palestine, with its narrow valleys and broken ridges of hill, crowded with towns, and their sides ribbed with terraces, stretches forth the wide trans-Jordanic region in actual extent far greater than the whole inheritance of the ten tribes, if we except the south country of Judah, yet having the most insignificant bearing on the future history of the nation. The first conquered, these regions were the first lost, and after the Assyrian captivity of Israel they were never repeopled by the chosen race, but remained in Gentile occupation. H. B. T. At the time of Moses we find two Amoritish kingdoms on the other side of the Jordan. The most southerly of the two, between the Jabbok and the Arnon, was founded by King Sihon, who still resided at Heshbon. The northern kingdom, which covered the whole land of Bashan, was governed by King Og. His palace was at Ashtaroth (Josh. 13:12). The territory of Og is expressly described (De. 31:4) as an Amoritish kingdom. After the immigration of the Amorites, they soon gained the upper hand over the early inhabitants. K. From the Wady Zered on the south to the broad ravine of the river Arnon on the north, lay the territory of Moab, also called Ar, along the southern half of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea; and a southern branch of the Arnon bounded their country on the east. Shortly before the exodus, the warlike Amorites (highlanders) had passed the Jordan under their King Sihon, and had driven the Moabites and Ammonites out of the region between the Arnon and the Jabbok; so that these rivers were now the southern and northern boundaries of the kingdom of Sihon, whose capital was Heshbon. North of the Jabbok, the great upland territory of Bashan, extending to Mount Hermon, formed the kingdom of the giant Og, who is also called an Amorite. Such was the state of the country east of Jordan, which formed no part of the land marked out for the first settlement of the Israelites, but events drew them on to its conquest. Having been forbidden to molest Moab or Ammon, they had asked for a peaceable passage through the former. Probably, as in the case of Edom, a direct passage was refused, but the people were left unmolested in passing over the upper courses of the Zered and the Arnon, and round the eastern slope of the intervening hills by the margin of the desert. P. S. The country ruled by Sihon lay between the Arnon and the river Jabbok, now Wady Zerka. The name most frequently given in the Old Testament is the land of Gilead. In the Roman period it was called Perea. It is intersected throughout its entire extent and divided into two nearly equal parts by the Wady Hesban, which pours its waters into the Jordan (not far from its mouth). The southern half, between Arnon and Wady Hesban, is again divided in the middle by the Wady Zerka Main, which flows into the Dead Sea. In the time of Moses the whole was inhabited and governed by the Amorites; but it had previously been in the possession of the Moabites and Ammonites. The former had been driven southward across the Arnon, the latter more in an easterly direction. This serves to explain the fact that the broad plain on the east bank of the Jordan is constantly designated in the Pentateuch the Arboth Moab or Plains of Moab. K. sometimes called “Mount Gilead,” and “the land of Gilead,” extended from the river Yarmuk on the north to the borders of Moab on the south—that is, to the Arnon. It would appear that at a very early period the Moabite territory extended far to the north of the Arnon, and embraced the “plain country” or Mishor, and southeastern portion of the Jordan Valley, but that when the Israelites reached the country the Moabites had been driven out by Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was in possession and living at Heshbon. On the defeat of Sihon at the decisive battle of Jahaz the country fell into the hands of the Israelites, and was afterward given to Reuben and Gad, but this particular district, the modern “Belka,” still retained the distinctive name of “Mishor,” or sometimes the “land of Moab,” and the plains east of Jordan were also known as the Arboth Moab, “or Plains of Moab.” In the southern half of Gilead were situated Mount Abarim, Mount Nebo, Pisgah, and Peor, which are mentioned in connection with the approach of the Israelites to the Promised Land and the death of Moses. It was this rich district of Gilead, with its abundant pasturage “a place for cattle,” that the two tribes of Gad and Reuben desired for their “very great multitude of cattle,” and in which they afterward led a pastoral life, to which there are several allusions in the Bible. Wilson. Sihon Rejects Moses’ Request. He Attacks, and is Exterminated. His Cities Occupied by Israel. De. 2 26 And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of 27 Heshbon with words of peace, saying, Let me pass through thy land : I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the 28 right hand nor to the left. Thou shalt sell me food for money, that I may eat ; and give me water for money, that I may drink : only 29 let me pass through on my feet ; as the children of Esau which dwell in Scir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me ; until I shall pass over Jordan into the land 30 which the LORD our God giveth us. But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him : for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as at this 31 day. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before thee : begin to possess, that thou may 32 est inherit his land. Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle 33 at Jahaz. And the LORD our God delivered him up before us ; and we smote him, and 34 his sons, and all his people. And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining: 35 only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we 36 had taken. From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even unto Gilead, there was not a city too high for us: the LORD our God delivered up all before us: 37 only to the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wheresoever the LORD our God forbad us. 3 1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, unto 2 battle at Edrei. And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which 3 dwelt at Heshbon. So the LORD our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. 4 And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we took not from them; threescore cities, all the region of 5 Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these were cities fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside the unwalled towns 6 a great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, 7 with the women and the little ones. But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we look 8 for a prey unto ourselves. And we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond Jordan, from the valley of Arnon unto mount 9 Hermon; (which Hermon the Sidonians call 10 Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir); all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salecah and Edrei, cities 11 of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. (For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.) In striking contrast with the west of Palestine, with its narrow valleys and broken ridges of hill, crowded with towns, and their sides ribbed with terraces, stretches forth the wide trans-Jordanic region in actual extent far greater than the whole inheritance of the ten tribes, if we except the south country of Judah, yet having the most insignificant bearing on the future history of the nation. The first conquered, these regions were the first lost, and after the Assyrian captivity of Israel they were never repeopled by the chosen race, but remained in Gentile occupation. H. B. T. At the time of Moses we find two Amoritish kingdoms on the other side of the Jordan. The most southerly of the two, between the Jabbok and the Arnon, was founded by King Sihon, who still resided at Heshbon. The northern kingdom, which covered the whole land of Bashan, was governed by King Og. His palace was at Ashtaroth (Josh. 13:12). The territory of Og is expressly described (De. 31:4) as an Amoritish kingdom. After the immigration of the Amorites, they soon gained the upper hand over the early inhabitants. K. From the Wady Zered on the south to the broad ravine of the river Arnon on the north, lay the territory of Moab, also called Ar, along the southern half of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea; and a southern branch of the Arnon bounded their country on the east. Shortly before the exodus, the warlike Amorites (highlanders) had passed the Jordan under their King Sihon, and had driven the Moabites and Ammonites out of the region between the Arnon and the Jabbok; so that these rivers were now the southern and northern boundaries of the kingdom of Sihon, whose capital was Heshbon. North of the Jabbok, the great upland territory of Bashan, extending to Mount Hermon, formed the kingdom of the giant Og, who is also called an Amorite. Such was the state of the country east of Jordan, which formed no part of the land marked out for the first settlement of the Israelites, but events drew them on to its conquest. Having been forbidden to molest Moab or Ammon, they had asked for a peaceable passage through the former. Probably, as in the case of Edom, a direct passage was refused, but the people were left unmolested in passing over the upper courses of the Zered and the Arnon, and round the eastern slope of the intervening hills by the margin of the desert. P. S. The country ruled by Sihon lay between the Arnon and the river Jabbok, now Wady Zerka. The name most frequently given in the Old Testament is the land of Gilead. In the Roman period it was called Perea. It is intersected throughout its entire extent and divided into two nearly equal parts by the Wady Hesban, which pours its waters into the Jordan (not far from its mouth). The southern half, between Arnon and Wady Hesban, is again divided in the middle by the Wady Zerka Main, which flows into the Dead Sea. In the time of Moses the whole was inhabited and governed by the Amorites; but it had previously been in the possession of the Moabites and Ammonites. The former had been driven southward across the Arnon, the latter more in an easterly direction. This serves to explain the fact that the broad plain on the east bank of the Jordan is constantly designated in the Pentateuch the Arboth Moab or Plains of Moab. K. sometimes called “Mount Gilead,” and “the land of Gilead,” extended from the river Yarmuk on the north to the borders of Moab on the south—that is, to the Arnon. It would appear that at a very early period the Moabite territory extended far to the north of the Arnon, and embraced the “plain country” or Mishor, and southeastern portion of the Jordan Valley, but that when the Israelites reached the country the Moabites had been driven out by Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was in possession and living at Heshbon. On the defeat of Sihon at the decisive battle of Jahaz the country fell into the hands of the Israelites, and was afterward given to Reuben and Gad, but this particular district, the modern “Belka,” still retained the distinctive name of “Mishor,” or sometimes the “land of Moab,” and the plains east of Jordan were also known as the Arboth Moab, “or Plains of Moab.” In the southern half of Gilead were situated Mount Abarim, Mount Nebo, Pisgah, and Peor, which are mentioned in connection with the approach of the Israelites to the Promised Land and the death of Moses. It was this rich district of Gilead, with its abundant pasturage “a place for cattle,” that the two tribes of Gad and Reuben desired for their “very great multitude of cattle,” and in which they afterward led a pastoral life, to which there are several allusions in the Bible. Wilson. Sihon Rejects Moses’ Request. He Attacks, and is Exterminated. His Cities Occupied by Israel. De. 4 44 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: these are the 45 testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgements, which Moses spake unto the children of 46 Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt; beyond Jordan, in the valley over against Beth- peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the 47 children of Israel smote, when they came forth out of Egypt: and they took his land in posses- sion, and the land of Og king of Ba-han, the two kings of the Amorites, which were beyond 48 Jordan toward the sunrising; from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, even 49 unto mount Sion (the same is Hermon), and all the Arabah beyond Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah. 5 1 And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the judgements which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to 2 do them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD made not this 3 covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. Ye 32 shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn 33 aside to the right hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may pro- long your days in the land which ye shall possess. 6 1 Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgements, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to pos- 2 sess it: that thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his command- ments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; 3 and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD, the God of thy fathers, hath promised unto thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 10. And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land which he swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee; great and goodly cities, which 11 thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and cisterns hewn out, which thou hewedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not, and 12 thou shalt eat and be full; then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth 13 out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; 14 and him shalt thou serve, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of 15 the gods of the peoples which are round about you; for the LORD thy God in the midst of thee is a jealous God; lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee from off the face of the earth. 16. Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. Ye shall diligently 17 keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which 18 he hath commanded thee. And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land 19 which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, to thrust out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken. 7 1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and 2 mightier than thou; and when the LORD thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with 3 them, nor shew mercy unto them: neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daugh- 4 ter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For he will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger 5 of the LORD be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly. But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down 6 their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, 7 above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of 8 all peoples: but because the LORD loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed 9 you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God; the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the judgements, which I command thee this day, to do them. 12 And it shall come to pass, because ye hearken to these judgements, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep with thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground, thy corn and thy wine and thine oil, the increase of thy kine and the young of thy flock, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee, but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. And thou shalt consume all the peoples which the LORD thy God shall deliver unto thee; thine eye shall not pity them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee. If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? thou shalt not be afraid of them: thou shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou art afraid. Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves, perish from before thee. 21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is in the midst of thee, a great God and a terrible. And the LORD thy God will cast out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. But the LORD thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and shall discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt make their name to perish from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God: and thou shalt not bring an abomination into thine house, and become a devoted thing like unto it: thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing. Moses did not deliver all that is contained in this book in one continued speech. After the preface (four chapters) it is to be supposed that he dismissed the people to consider what he had said. Some time after he reassembled them, to put them in mind of the laws which he so earnestly pressed them to observe. Patrick.—The second discourse contains a recapitulation, with some modifications and additions, of the Law already given on Mount Sinai. Yet it is not bare recapitulation, or naked enactment, but every word shows the heart of the lawgiver full at once of zeal for God and of the most fervent desire for the welfare of his nation. It is the Father no less than the Legislator who speaks. And while obedience and life are throughout bound up together, it is the obedience of a loving heart, not a service of formal constraint, which is the burden of his exhortations. P. S. 4: 44-49. This second address is introduced by a general notice of what is to form the subject of it—viz., the Law, with a more especial description of that in its different parts, as conconsisting of ordinances, statutes, and rights; together with a reference to the place and time when this address was delivered. W. L. A.—A statement manifestly introductory to the discourse of the succeeding chapters. Moses is about to declare the “testimonies,” what comes forth from God to indicate his will; and the “statutes,” the defined duties of moral obligation; and the “judgments,” or mutual rights of men. The conditions of his speech are here detailed. Ebgar. These verses introduce the main body of laws in this book, just as ch. 29:1 marks their close, and their relation to God’s earlier messages. They leave no alternative open, except the admission of the genuineness and Mosaic origin of the record or else the charge of a very carefully planned and most deliberate forgery. The twenty-four chapters that follow must be the Law of God by the hand of his servant Moses, or a gigantic falsehood from first to last. And yet they contain, along with the Decalogue, the three texts by which the Son of God repelled and overcame the temptations of Satan, and that first and great commandment which his lips have singled out from the whole Word of God as pre-eminently Divine. Our Lord's own question is thus unanswerable: "If ye believe not his writings, how can ye believe my words?" The whole passage before us has a kind of legal precision, fixing exactly the time and place when and where this crowning portion of God's Law was given to his people. The comment, "beyond Jordan toward the sun-rising," and the name Sion given to Mount Hermon here only, are further signs that the words were penned on the eastern side of the river, before the name Hermon, dating from the conquest, had superseded other and earlier names. Birks. 5 : 1-3. Moses reminds them of the making of the covenant at Horeb, and of the revelation of the fundamental law of the covenant there. As he was about to recapitulate the laws which God their King had enacted, it was fitting that he should refer at the outset to that covenant relation between Jehovah and Israel on which all the injunctions of the Law rested. W. L. A. 6 : 1-3. Moses exhorts, entreats, wrestles with men, that they may be wise and good; there is nothing wanting that is suggestive of ripeness of experience, depth and genuineness of sympathy. Moses becomes shepherd again, only now men and women and children, more wayward than any beasts of the earth, constitute his multitudinous and most trying flock. Mark, though the fire of his eye is not dimmed, the growth of the man in the softening of his voice, in his pastoral solicitude for the salvation of Israel. These chapters of Deuteronomy are full of exhortation and expostulation. 3. Whoever observes and does the commandments of God shall enter into largeness of blessing and immeasurable depth of holy contentment. No man can do right in order that it may be well with him, but no man can do right without its being consequentially well with every faculty of his mind, every emotion of his spirit, every outgoing of his life. Moses is already preaching the Sermon upon the Mount according to the measure of the light which made up his ancient day. What is he now doing but saying, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you"? "Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do the commandment of God; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily." Our business is with the "hearing" and the "observing," and God's business is with the result of blessing. J. P.—The forms in which the rewards of loyalty to God will show themselves are very varied. The individual will find that godliness has "promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." The family will find that "he blesseth the habitation of the just." The city will find that the keeping of God's commandments is among the things "which belong unto its peace." And "the righteous nation which keepeth the truth" will find that "salvation doth God appoint for walls and bulwarks." Mercifully meeting us on the low ground on which we too frequently stand in looking out for profit, God would raise us up to the higher platform of a pure, self-abandoning self-forgetfulness and love, in which we are content to be nothing, that God may be all in all. C. C. 10-12. The Israelites were on the point of quitting a nomad life, in which they had lived in a great degree aloof from other nations, for a fixed and settled abode in the midst of them; were exchanging a condition of comparative poverty, in which they possessed nothing except what they carried, for "great and goodly cities, houses full of all good things," etc. There was then before them a double danger; that namely of a God-forgetting worldliness, and that of a false tolerance of the idolatries practised by those about to become their neighbors. The former error Moses strives to guard against in the verses before us. Espin. 12. Beware, lest thou forget the Lord.** The enjoyment of the good things of this life which God gives is accompanied with the danger of forgetting him, and of clinging to the gods of nature, as has been the case with many heathen people. The remembrance of God's benefits and chastisements and of his interference in their history, was to serve to the people of Israel to counterbalance this danger. Gerl.—We are born into the possession of riches. The poorest man in the land is an inheritor of all but infinite wealth, in every department of civilization. Men to-day enjoy the liberty for which other men paid their lives. Coming into a civilization so ripe and rich, having everything made ready to our hands, the whole system of society telephoned so that we can communicate with distant friends and bring them within hearing, the table loaded with everything which a healthy appetite can desire—all these things constitute a temptation, if not rightly received. Moses drew the picture, and then said—"Beware." In the time of prosperity, and fulness, and overflow—"then beware lest thou forget the Lord" Ever hear this word of caution—"beware." When the harvest is the best harvest that ever was grown in our fields, then—“beware.” When health is long-continued and the doctor a stranger in the house, then—“beware.” When house is added to house and land to land, then—“beware.” J. P. 13. In the Old Testament piety is frequently named the fear of the Lord; perhaps as frequently as in the New Testament it is named love. Not that either is peculiar to these parts of Scripture respectively; but good men are oftenest spoken of in the Old Testament as fearing, and in the New Testament as loving. Good men loved God then, and good men fear him now; but Old Testament love was much like fear, and New Testament fear is much like love. Abraham and Moses fear while they draw near in filial belief; but John, while he reverences, rests upon the very bosom of his God. J. W. A. 15. By the help of natural reason we may know there is a God, the first cause and original of all things; but his essence, attributes, and will cannot be discerned by us but through faith in his Divine revelation. He that walks without this light walks in darkness, though he may strike out some faint and glimmering sparkles of his own. And he that, out of the gross and wooden dictates of his natural reason, carves out a religion to himself, is but a more refined idolater than those who worship stocks and stones, hammering an idol out of his fancy and adoring the works of his own imagination. For this reason God is nowhere said to be jealous, but upon the account of his worship, Bunyan. 18,19. Whether our earthly circumstances are helps or hindrances to us Godward will depend much more on what we bring to them than on what they bring to us. And however, on the side of this life, things may favor us and circumstances befriend, it is only as they help us to serve God better that they are really blessings to us; it is “well” with us only when God is well pleased with us. So much stress did Moses attach to the maintenance of unswerving loyalty to God, that he intimates that the possession of the land is secured to them only so far as they are true to their great Deliverer. C. C. 7: 1-4. The Israelites were about to enter on a country occupied by idolaters, and they are commanded not to spare them or to allow them to continue in their proximity, or to have any friendly relations with them. The Lord would cast out these nations, and deliver them, though greater and mightier than they, into their hands; and they were to smite them and place them under the ban; they were to make no covenant with them nor form any alliances with them, lest they should thus be drawn into idolatry, and so the anger of the Lord be kindled against them, and his vengeance brought upon them. W. L. A. 1-11. Israel forewarned against a false toleration of idolatry. Commerce with the idolatrous nations among which they were about to live might easily render them dangerously familiar with superstitions and abominations, against which it was a primary purpose of the whole legislation to raise up a witness and a protest. Hence the stringency of the command given verses 2-5, and repeated verses 23-26, to excommunicate the idolatrous nations and all belonging to them, and to exterminate their degraded worship with all its appliances. The renewal of the promises in verses 12 sqq. is but set forth as supplying a motive for the more zealous and effectual execution of these duties; and thus the destruction of idolatry and idolaters within the sacred precincts of the chosen people appears as the leading topic of this part of Moses’ discourse. The words and phrases employed will be found parallel to various passages of the preceding books. Espin. 2. Utterly destroy them.** One of the chief reasons which made this destruction necessary was the consideration that if any of the old inhabitants were left they would prove a snare to those who succeeded them in the country; would draw and seduce them by degrees into the vices and corruptions which prevailed among themselves. Vices of all kinds, but vices especially of the licentious kind, are astonishingly infectious. Paley. 3,4. All care to prevent idolatry would probably have been useless, without prohibiting intermarriages; and putting a stop to such intercourse and entertainments as would have proved an occasion either of intermarriages or of familiarities no less dangerous. Lowman.—The people of these abominations must not be mingled with the holy seed, lest they corrupt them. Better that all these lives should be lost from the earth, than that religion and the true worship of God should be lost in Israel. Thus we must deal with lusts that war against our souls; God has delivered them into our hands by that promise, Sin shall not have dominion over you, unless it be your own fault; let not us then make covenants with them, or show them any mercy, but mortify and crucify them, and utterly destroy them. H. 5-8. They were not only to have no fellowship with the idolaters, but they were to root out their idolatry, everting their altars and destroying their idols; and this because they were a holy people, graciously chosen of God to be his special possession—a high privilege and honor which they were to be careful not to cast away. W. L. A. 7. Set his love upon you.** The Hebrew verb meaning primarily to cleave to, to be attached to, is used to express ardent and loving affection. The fewest of all people. It might have been supposed that, in choosing a people to be his special treasure, the Almighty would have selected some one of the great nations of the world; but, instead of that, he had chosen one of the smallest. They had, indeed, grown till now they were as the stars for multitude; but it was not in prospect of this that they were chosen. The election of Israel was purely of grace. W. L. A. 8. Because the Lord loved you.** Instead of saying, He hath chosen you out of love to your fathers, as in ch 4:37, Moses brings out in this place love to the people of Israel as the Divine motive, not for choosing Israel, but for leading it out and delivering it from the slave-house of Egypt, by which God had practically carried out the election of the people, that he might thereby allure the Israelites to a reciprocity of love. Keil.—The word love is an Old Testament word. The tenderest expressions ever used by heaven to earth are reported not in the New Testament, but in the Old. That the Lord loved Israel was shown by long-suffering, by hopeful patience, by pouring down blessing upon blessing, notwithstanding the ingratitude of the people. J. P.—The choice of Israel was with a view to their being a holy people and a special people unto the Lord. Electing love extended to a nation or a people is really a Divine investment. The result is the holiness and consecration of the people. It is this holiness, this sense of consecration, which proves the electing love of God. And this is all the more intense when it is seen clearly that God's love is manifested, not on the ground of national or personal merit, but as a matter of free grace. Edgar. 9. The faithful God.** We read of the living God, the mighty God, the glorious Lord God, and in the text of the faithful God. The Apostle Paul is fond of applying the word "faithful" to God and to Jesus Christ, thus: "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." "The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil." "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." The Apostle John, too, in a remarkable passage, avails himself of the same descriptive term: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." If God is faithful himself, he expects faithfulness in others. He praises faithfulness in those who have completed their course of life honorably: "Well done, good and faithful servant." He would see himself in others. J. P. Keepeth covenant. The tenor of the covenant into which they were taken; it was in short this, That as they were to God, so God would be to them. He is God, God indeed, God alone, the faithful God, able and ready not only to fulfil his own promises, but to answer all the just expectations of his worshippers, and he will certainly keep covenant and mercy—that is, "show mercy according to covenant, to them that love him and keep his commandments" (and in vain do we pretend to love him, if we do not make conscience of his commandments); "and this" (as is here added for the explication of the promise in the second commandment), "not only to thousands of persons, but to thousands of generations. So inexhaustible is the fountain, so constant the streams!" Just to his enemies, he repayeth them that hate him (verse 10). Wilful sinners are haters of God; for the carnal mind is enmity against him. Idolaters are so in a special manner, for they are in league with his rivals. H.—The "haters of God" or the disobedient were threatened with temporal calamities extending "to the third or fourth generation of their children;" but the "lovers of God" or the obedient, who should keep these his commandments, were encouraged by the promise that God would show mercy unto their children to the thousandth generation, or to the remotest ages. Thus the idolatries of the Jewish nation drew down on themselves and on their children the Babylonish captivity of seventy years, including the third and fourth generation of the offenders; while the righteous posterity of the true Israelites, in the regeneration will flourish till the end of the world. How infinitely does the goodness transcend the severity of God! Hales. 13-15. Godliness has promise of the life that now is. It naturally tends to prosperity. It condemns idleness, waste, dishonesty, and the whole series of vices which wreck health, squander property, and destroy confidence. Where religion prevails, men will be industrious, conscientious, orderly, and reliable. But, in addition to this natural tendency, there rests on the good man's lot what is distinctively spoken of as the Divine blessing. This will mingle itself with all he has and with all he does. It gives him favor in the eyes of men. It opens up his way for him (Ps. 37 : 5). It protects him from injury (Ps. 37 : 33, 39). It overrules all events and influences, so that they work for his good. This is forcibly illustrated in the text, where blessing is represented as descending on the home, on the products of the land, on flocks and herds, and on the bodily life. The counterpart of the blessing is the curse (verse 15). The wicked often prosper, but it is prosperity unblessed and unenduring. Orr. 18-24. From verses 18 to 24 we have the cheering voice of the great lawgiver, grandly uttering, in his hundred and twentieth year, words to empower the heart, and showing Israel, in the name of the Lord of hosts, how much more there is to animate them than there can possibly be to discourage and depress. He reminds them no fewer than eight times of the name of the Lord their God; bids them look back to past miracles and wonders, and to see in them pledges of future help; shows them how the providential action of God, which was for them, would be against their foes; assures them that God would be among them as an ever-present Helper and Friend; and points out that, though the process of driving out the Canaanites might be slow, yet if it were done more rapidly, it would be attended with great peril from other and unexpected quarters; that both tribes of men and herds of beasts would be kept in abeyance for their sakes; so that, though they were led by a tedious route, it would be the safest way! The whole passage is full of interest and instruction for our every-day life. C. C. 23-25. They did not execute his sentence by their own power. Their commission ran, "The Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction. And he shall deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven," etc. It is very evident, therefore, that the Israelites could not have been actuated by any of the motives that usually actuate men in war. At every step they were made to feel that their only hope was in humble reliance upon Divine promises and obedience to the Divine commands. There was no temptation to avarice, for they were to take no spoil, but utterly to destroy everything captured. They could not be animated by feelings of vengeance, for the idea kept ever before their minds as the reason for the destruction is that it is the base and hateful idolatry that is to be destroyed. The Law, indeed, required even a Hebrew city to be utterly exterminated when given up thus to idolatry, just as a Canaanitish city. In short, it is evident that the reason for choosing Israel as the instrument for inflicting judgment was that Israel itself should be thoroughly estranged from idolatry and the seductions of false religion. It was with a view to put an impassable gulf between them and the idolatrous nations. S. R. 24. The depraved state of the morals of the Canaanites is too notorious to require any proof. They were a wicked people in the time of Abraham, and even then were devoted by God to destruction; but "their iniquity was not then full." In the time of Moses they were idolaters; sacrificers of their own infants; devourers of human flesh; addicted to unnatural lust; immersed in the filthiness of all manner of vice. It was agreeable to God's moral justice to exterminate so wicked a people. He made the Israelites the executors of his vengeance; and in doing this he gave such an evident and terrible proof of his abomination of vice as could not fail to strike the surrounding nations with astonishment and terror, and to impress on the minds of the Israelites what they were to expect if they followed the example of the nations whom he commanded them to cut off. The conduct of Moses toward the Canaanites would have been wrong had he acted by his own authority alone; but it were as reasonable to attribute cruelty and murder to the judge of the land in condemning criminals to death, as to condemn the conduct of Moses in executing the command of God. Bp. Watson. 25. Whatsoever had been employed in idolatrous worship was so detestable to the Divine majesty, that he would not have it converted to any ordinary use, but utterly destroyed; therefore he commanded them not to bring any of the silver and gold which had belonged to idols, which he calls an "abomination," into their houses to be employed for any private use whatsoever. If a man did, he became "an accursed thing;" that is, was devoted to destruction, as the thing itself was. This appeared afterward in the example of Achan (Josh. 7), who took a wedge of gold and a Babylonish garment for his own private use when it had been "accursed" by God's express command, and therefore was stoned to death. Bp. Patrick. 26. Speaking of heathen abomination, Moses says, "Thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it." There is no middle feeling; there is no intermediate way of dealing with bad things. "If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off; "if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out." "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." Thus the Testaments are one; the moral tone is the same; the stern law never yields to time—its phrase changes, its words may come and go, its forms may take upon them the color of the transient times, but the inner spirit of righteousness is the Spirit of God, without beginning, without measure, without end. J. P. SECOND PARTING ADDRESS (CONTINUED): REMEMBRANCE OF JEHOVAH'S WILDERNESS DEALINGS, AND PROSPECT OF THE GOODLY CANAAN INHERITANCE PRESSED AS MOTIVES TO OBEDIENT SERVICE. WARNING AGAINST FORGETFULNESS OF GOD AND PRIDE OF HEART. Ex. 20 1 And God spake all these words, saying, De. 4 11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the Ten Commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. De. 5 22 These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them unto me. Definitely conceive this natural scenery of a plain sloping gradually down for a mile in width, extending two miles, with crescent shape in length, as a huge amphitheatre, with the dark, perpendicular cliff of granite rising from the foot of the gentle slope some fifteen hundred feet in height, seeming to one standing near—for such is ever the impression from gazing directly upward from the foot of a lofty crag—to tower "up to the midst of heaven," while the loose, black, ragged masses of granite appear ready to let go their hold on the side of the crag and drop into the plain beneath. As Israel is waiting in solemn expectation this morning, behold, the immense pillar of cloud, that hitherto has guided their march, is observed to rise slowly and majestically. It ascends upward and upward to the midst of heaven. Then it moves toward the lofty summit and covers Sinai as a cloud. Thereupon the lightnings begin to flash from the cloud and the thunders roll terrifically, causing the earth to tremble under their feet. Then the clang of the mighty signal trumpet calls forth all the hosts of Israel from their camp. Under the direction of Moses and their leaders, they approach near the foot of the dark cliff, and the myriads are arranged, row upon row, in serried ranks of two miles in length. They stand in breathless silence, for every spirit is awe-struck. As the thunders at length cease, and the voice of the trumpet is hushed, suddenly there bursts forth from the darkness on the summit an articulate voice, loud as the voice of the thunders and the trumpet. Distinctly and audibly the voice of Jehovah himself spake to the assembled nation—issuing from the Glory on the summit of Sinai. The inspired lawgiver forty years afterward declares, "The Lord talked with you face to face out of the midst of the fire. These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness with a great voice, and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tables of stone and delivered them unto me." Thus the very mode of the revelation of this Law, in view of Moses, the lawgiver, set it apart to itself as above all the revelations made through Moses. S. R.—Moses adds elsewhere, "For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is; or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?" Bush. In Acts 7:38 Stephen affirms that Christ was the Jehovah who spake to Moses in Mount Sinai (see also Ps. 68:7, 8; Eph. 4:8). B.—God has many ways of speaking to the children of men: by his Spirit, by conscience, by providences, by his voice; all which we ought carefully to attend to; but he never spake, at any time or upon any occasion, so as he spake the Ten Commandments, which therefore we ought to hear with the more earnest heed. It was not only spoken audibly, but with a great deal of dreadful pomp. H. The scenes of Sinai were a long and magnificent step of progress in the revelations of God to men. We may think here not so much of the external surroundings—the bringing into service of all the grandest agencies of nature to impress men with reverence and fear and awe, and so to plant the more deeply in their souls the idea of law as emanating unmistakably from the Infinite One; but we may consider the great fact itself of a revealed Law. It is surely a point in the progress of God's revelations of himself second to nothing that has gone before—second to nothing in all the ages save the greater mission of his Son for the purposes of redemption. God revealing to man a rule of duty; expressing it in terms at once so simple and so comprehensive; including the duties we owe to God on the one hand and to fellow-beings on the other; putting it on permanent record; accompanying it with demonstrations of majesty and glory, endorsing it so surely and so sublimely; adjusting it so nicely in harmony with the intelligent convictions of rational minds, and so commending it to every man's conscience as intrinsically and eternally right:—truly the promulgation of such a law through such agencies is surpassingly grand and glorious; and is one of the great epochs in the march of God's revelations of himself to mortals. H. C. The Ten Commandments formed a distinct part of God's revelation. They were spoken by God's own voice from the midst of the fire. They only were thus promulgated; "he added no more." They were written on tables of stone. They were deposited in the ark of the covenant. These facts show that they held a distinct place in the Law-giving at Sinai, and that they are not to be confounded with the ceremonial and judicial statutes, subsequently given. The grounds of this distinction: The Decalogue was: (1) An epitome of universal moral truth. (2) Internally complete as such—the first table laying down our duties to God, as respects his being, his worship, his Name, his day, his human representatives; the second forbidding all injury to our fellow-men (injuries to life, property, chastity, character), while requiring by implication the fulfilment of all positive duties, and the regulation even of our secret thoughts. (3) The basis of the covenant with Israel. The foundation on which all subsequent legislation was reared. Orr. The Promulgation of the Decalogue from the heights of Sinai, in the manner set forth in the Book of Exodus, stands before us as an instance that is better fitted than any other which might be named, as determinative of the question now moved within the Church, concerning the Reality of a Revelation, authenticated by supernatural attestations. There needs no argument to show that, if the Promulgation of the Law from the heights of Sinai took place in the manner affirmed in the Mosaic books—if, indeed, then and there God spake these words “from out of the thick darkness,” and amid the blasts of the trumpet; if it be so, then this descent of the ALMIGHTY—speaking to man, carries with it, as well the immediate antecedents of the event, as its more proximate conditions, and its next following consequences. If this history be true as to its central fact, it must be true, also, as to its indispensable conditions. The Sinaitic narrative must be true altogether, or it must be false altogether. I ask a moment’s attention to the central fact. The most unmarked spot on earth’s alluvial levels might have been chosen as the scene of the event of which we read in the nineteenth and twentieth chapters of the Book of Exodus. But it was otherwise ordered, and a group of mountains, remarkable beyond any other elsewhere found, was singled out as the fittest for so great an occasion. Thus, therefore, it is that the enduring continuity of local traditions which gives a sort of indestructible vitality to the names of places, whether they be important or unimportant, has clustered upon this mountain mass with a peculiar strength, as if it should never come to be doubted where it was that the Eternal, the King, Immortal, Invisible, came down to hold converse—not, as often heretofore, with favored men apart and singly, but now with a people congregated to meet him at his call. The stern sublimity of this group of precipices, its unchanging conditions, which neither man nor nature has affected in the lapse of ages, have preserved, in its primeval majesty, a scene which the modern traveller, devout or undevout, acknowledges as signally proper for the purpose when a nation was summoned to appear before God. Sinai, in its aspect as the Hebrew people saw it when it was crowned with the unquenchable fires, and such as the traveller now sees it in its unchanging aspect of sterile majesty, is a scene proper for the purpose to which then it was made subservient. The Arabian spearman, as if heaven had placed him there, has held watch around the heights of Sinai these thirty centuries and more; and this guard has been conservative of the Sinaitic tradition. Throughout the ages of the Saracenic history, this functionary—whether intended or involuntary—has held the memory of the one event, as if in the freshness of a recent recollection. Yet more has the Law, spoken from Sinai, lived in the constant heart and in the obduracy, too, in the better nature, in the noble martyr strength, and also in the senile traditions, and in the daily habitudes, and in the ponderous literature, and in the speech of the people, whose ancestors then filled the wide plain at the foot of Sinai. It is the same people, immovable in mind, and now, as for ages past, a witness for God in all lands. Each Jewish heart is an enduring tablet whereupon the Sinaitic words are anew and anew written—as with the finger of God. I. T. # Name, and its Meaning. The Hebrew name which is rendered in our Version the Ten Commandments occurs in Ex. 34:28; De. 4:13, 10:4. It literally means the Ten Words. In Ex. 24:12, the Ten Commandments are called the Law, even the Commandment. They are elsewhere called the Words of the Covenant (Ex. 34:28, where the strict rendering would be, the Words of the Covenant, even the Ten Words), the Tables of the Covenant (De. 9:9, 11, 15), and simply the Covenant (De. 4:13); also the Two Tables (De. 9:10, 17). But the most frequent name for them in the Old Testament is, the Testimony, or the Two Tables of the Testimony. In the New Testament they are called simply the Commandments. The name Decalogue is found first in Clement of Alexandria, and was commonly used by the Fathers who followed him. Clark. What we call the “Ten Commandments,” are currently called in the Hebrew text “the ten words” (see Ex. 34:28; De. 10:4; 4:13, the article being used in all three places). The words of the Hebrew stem כָּבוֹר, commonly translated by the English verb “command” and its derivatives, are not currently used to denote what we call “the Ten Commandments,” and are, perhaps, not even once used distinctively in this meaning. This special meaning of the word “commandment” is purely a matter of translation usage, and not of Hebrew usage. What is thus true of the term commandment, as applied to “the ten words,” is perhaps even more emphatically true of the term "law" in the same application. We are accustomed, and correctly, so far as the ethical aspects of the matter are concerned, to regard "the ten words" as being pre-eminently the Law of Jehovah, as recorded in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, neither the Old Testament nor the New are accustomed to apply the term Law distinctively to "the ten words;" it is doubtful whether they so apply it in even a single instance. "The ten words" are a portion of the commandments of Jehovah; they are found in the Law of Jehovah; they are an especially important part of the Law and the commandments; but it is not according to biblical usage to call them either by the name law or by the name commandments. This is the more noteworthy because the Bible, instead of signaling their importance by applying these two names to them, has other names which it uses for this purpose. It speaks of "the two tables of the testimony" (Ex. 31:18; 32:15, etc.), and of "the tables of the covenant" (De. 9:9, 11, 15; Heb. 9:4, etc.). The Bible regards "the ten words," indeed, as precepts to be obeyed; but it far more prominently regards them as the foundation and evidence of special privileges accorded to Jehovah's people—as a charter of rights, rather than a code of prohibitions. The Law was kept beside the ark, the pot of manna and other national memorials, before the ark, but only the two tables within the ark (1 Kings 8:9). The two tables were kept, not for purposes of study or appeal (it was death to look into the ark), but as a testimony, as sacred Divine credentials; the Law, on the other hand, was in the custody of the priests and elders for purposes of administration. The two tables, in the ark, with the mercy-seat over them, forming the central object of the sanctuary and its worship, represent the moral principle of the religion of Israel. God's covenant with Israel, as with any man in all time, is on the basis of the keeping of the "Ten Commandments;" yet there is propitiation for the repentant man, who is conscious of sin because he has failed to keep them. This twofold symbol is to the religion of the Pentateuch what the life and death of Christ are to Christianity—a fixed standard of obligation, coupled with a proclamation of forgiving grace. Beecher. #### Division into Tables. We know that the Tables were two, and that the Commandments were ten, in number. But the Scriptures do not, by any direct statements, enable us to determine with precision how the Ten Commandments are severally to be made out, nor how they are to be allotted to the Two Tables. On each of these points various opinions have been held. Cook. The Ten Commandments were engraved on two tables of stone (Ex. 31:18), and on both sides of the tables (32:15, 16), and when these were broken by Moses, as significant of the fact that the covenant of God with the people had been broken by the sin of the golden calf (32:19), two other tables of stone were by Divine direction prepared like unto the first, and the Lord wrote the commandments upon them afresh (34:1). We are nowhere expressly informed how many commandments were written on each of the tables. The most equitable division of the matter would be to put the preface, together with the first three commandments, in the first table, and the last seven in the second. The original tables of stone upon which they were written, and which Moses deposited in the ark of the covenant, were still in existence in the time of Solomon (1 Kings 8:9). Probably they perished together with the ark when the temple was burned by Nebuchadnezzar. But if monumental evidence is worth anything, the text of these commandments is beyond dispute. W. H. G. In the numerical arrangement and distinction of the several precepts of the Decalogue, the Romanists differ essentially from Protestants. The Roman Church makes but one commandment of the first two, while they divide the tenth into two, making the first sentence of that commandment the ninth. The motive for thus abstracting the second commandment from the Decalogue is very easily imagined on the part of a church which gives so much countenance to image-worship; and it is equally obvious that the partition of the tenth into two, is wholly with a view to compensate the mutilation by leaving the nominal integrity of the code unimpaired. That such a disjunction of the parts of the tenth commandment is wholly unauthorized and violent, will be evident upon a comparison of the text as it stands in Exodus with that of Deuteronomy. In the one the coveting of a "house" occurs before the coveting of a "wife;" whereas in the other the order is reversed, and "house" occurs after "wife." If, then, the Papal division were well founded, the ninth commandment according to the one reading would be, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house," and according to the other, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife." Such a diversity, it appears from Hallett's "Notes on Scripture Texts," actually exists in some of the Catechisms and Manuals of the Roman Church. Bush. # Two Copies of the Decalogue. In addition to the copy of the Decalogue in Ex. 20, which is evidently the original and authentic one, we have a second, and in some respects a different copy, in De. 5. The differences are merely formal and for the most part immaterial. K. In De. 5: 7-21, we find a repetition of the Ten Commandments. On these, as the basis of the covenant, the whole legislation rests, and therefore a rehearsal of them is a fitting introduction to a repetition and enforcement of the Laws of the Theocracy. Some differences appear between the statement of the "ten words," as given here and as given in Ex. 20. It is chiefly in the fourth commandment that these are to be found. It begins here with "remember" for "keep;" reference is made to the command of God as sanctioning the Sabbath, which is omitted in Exodus; a fuller description of the animals to be exempted from work on that day is given; the words, "that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou," are added; and in place of a reference to the resting of God after the Creation as the ground of the Sabbath institute, as in Exodus, there is a reference to the deliverance of the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt as a reason why the Lord commanded them to keep the Sabbath day. In the fifth commandment there are two additions here—the one of the words, "as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee," and the other of the words, "that it may go well with thee." In the tenth commandment the first two clauses are transposed, "desire" appears in place of "covet" in relation to "wife," and "field" is added to the specification of objects. These differences are of little moment. The only one demanding notice is that in the fourth commandment, where different reasons are assigned for the ordinance of the Sabbath. The two reasons assigned, however, are perfectly compatible; the one is fundamental and universally applicable, the other is subsidiary and special in its application; the one is a reason why the Sabbath was originally instituted and is for all men, the other is a reason why it was specially and formally instituted in Israel and was especially memorable to that people. In a popular address to them it seems fitting that the latter rather than the former should be the one adduced. As a memorial of their deliverance from Egypt, the Sabbath was all important to them, for by it they were constantly reminded that "they were thereby freed from the dominion of the world to be a peculiar possession of Jehovah, and so amid the toil and trouble of the world had part in the holy rest of their God." Baum.—It was also fitting in a recapitulatory address that special emphasis should be laid on the fact that what the Law enunciated was what "the Lord had commanded." The addition of "field" in the tenth commandment is probably due to the fact that now, the occupation and division of the land having begun, the people were about to have what they had not before—each his own property in land. In the tenth commandment, also, there is a difference in the two accounts worthy of notice. In Deuteronomy "field" is added to the enumeration of objects not to be coveted, and the "wife" is put first and apart, while in Exodus the "house" precedes the "wife," and the latter ranks with the rest. In Deuteronomy also this separation of the wife is emphasized by a change of the verb: "Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house." W. L. A. A mere annalist would naturally repeat these laws verbatim, as first pronounced on Sinai. But Moses was God's own lawgiver, filled with the Spirit of God to complete a code already begun. And hence, in his case alone, there might be weighty reasons for some partial change in the way of expansion or comment when the Decalogue was republished. In the preface and the first three commands where the first person is used, the repetition is exact. But in the fourth and fifth commandments Moses speaks as the Lawgiver, and renews them both with Divine authority, adding that significant clause, "as the Lord thy God commanded thee." A fresh reason is now given for the observance of the Sabbath, from the great deliverance and redemption which God had wrought for his people Israel. Such a change is quite natural, and adds to the force of this repetition of the Decalogue, transferring the command from past time to time present, when the speaker is God's own inspired messenger, the dying Lawgiver of his people. Instead of a mere record of what had occurred forty years before, it now becomes a present voice of authority from the living God to his own people. And nothing else than the high dignity of Moses as the mediator of the Old Covenant can fully explain this transition from the simple annalist to the voice of authority and the tones of the Legislator, so that the change increases and renews the impressiveness without impairing the authority of the original message. Birks. # Negative or Prohibitory Form of the Precepts. The predominantly negative character is rather a testimony to their deep spiritual import, as confronting at every point the depravity and sinfulness of the human heart. The Israelites then, as professing believers now, admitted by Divine grace into a covenant relation to God, and made heirs of his blessed inheritance, should have been disposed of themselves to love and serve God; they should not even have needed the stringent precepts and binding obligations of law to do so. But as a solemn proof and testimony how much the reverse was the case, the Law was thrown chiefly into the prohibitory form: "Thou shalt not do this or that;" as much as to say, Thou art of thyself ready to do it—this is the native bent of thy inclination—but it must be restrained, and things of a contrary nature sought after and performed. In itself the Law was simply the revelation of God's holiness, with its circle of demands upon the faith, love, and obedience of his people: it testified of what was in his heart as the invisible Head of the kingdom, in respect to the character and conduct of those who should be its members. But the testimony it thus delivered for him necessarily involved a testimony against them, because of the innate tendency to corruption which existed in their bosoms. And this incidental testimony against the sinfulness of the people—which is, at the same time, an evidence of the Law's inherent spirituality and goodness—has its reflection in the very form of the precepts in which it is contained. . . . It is also to be noted that the negative commands include in them the injunction of the contrary duties, and the positive commands the prohibition of the contrary sins, so that in each there is something required as well as forbidden. Further, the precept which forbids the external acts of sin, forbids likewise the inward desires and motions of sin in the heart; so also the precept which commands the external acts of duty, requires at the same time the inward feelings and principles of holiness, of which the external acts could only be the fitting expression. P. F. # Character and Perpetuity of the Moral Law. The Jews had three sorts of law. They had the moral law, the ceremonial law, and the civil law. The civil law existed for a time; its principles, as far as they are moral, relate to all time. The ceremonial law lasted till Christ, its end and its object, came. But the moral law, like the God that announced it, is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. This law was not invented on Mount Sinai, but only enunciated there. It was ever true; it is now true; and it ever will be true. God's enunciation of it on Mount Sinai was an act of mercy in letting his creatures know what was the precise exaction of his will, and what would be the highest conformity to that will, if the commands in stone could be transferred to the heart, and be made actual and real in the life and the experience of mankind. J. C.—The moral law, expressed briefly in the Ten Commandments, is that part of the Law of Moses which is binding upon all men, and at all times. It contains a brief view of what is ever and unchangeably right—right in the eyes of God, and right for man to do; it is the Law that should be engraven upon every heart; it should ever be the standard of duty; and every man's prayer should be that his heart "may be inclined to keep it alway, even to the end." W. G. B.—Though the Mosaic dispensation be now at an end, yet concerning these moral precepts of it, our Saviour declares, that "one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matt. 5:18). Accordingly we find both him and his apostles quoting these Ten Commandments as matter of perpetual obligation to Christians; who are now, as the Jews were formerly, "the Israel of God." Abp. Secker. In every mode of incidental allusion, and of the most solemn and formal authentication, CHRIST, in the exercise of his public ministry, recognized the Decalogue, and also the summary of it, in two great commandments, as the Law of God. CHRIST, the Light of the world, and the Author of a spiritual religion for all nations, to the end of time, CHRIST, whose word is our warrant, and it is our only warrant for the hope of immortality, establishes his mission, and he expressly founds his religion upon the Mosaic revelation at large; and he does so in an emphatic manner upon the Sinaitic Decalogue. He takes this Law as the very ground of that higher and more spiritual interpretation which an intimate moral code demands. The several occasions on which he does this at once authenticate the Mosaic Canon, and expand its letter so as to send it in to govern the thoughts and intents of the heart. I. T.—Only one Law and Testimony was ever referred to by our Lord; one Law of Love (Lev. 19:18; De. 6:5). Christ's words illuminated the unity and Mosaic authorship of the whole when he said, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." He never quoted any other code nor referred to any other lawgiver than Moses. Neither did his disciples nor the apostles. "Master, Moses said" (Matt. 22:24); "Master, Moses wrote to us" (Luke 20:28); "This is that Moses in the wilderness, who received the living oracles to give unto us" (Acts 7:37). Cheever.—Even if there were no Pentateuch in existence, the fact of the giving of the Law at Sinai through the mediation of Moses would be more firmly established than any other fact of ancient history. An event which has struck such deep roots in the consciousness of a nation as the giving of the Law at Sinai rests upon as sure a foundation as the existence of the nation itself. To establish this conclusion, we do not even need the line of testimony which we actually possess, and which reaches back to the very earliest antiquity of the nation of Israel. K. The Laws of the Ten Commandments stood out from all the other precepts enjoined under the ministration of Moses, and were intended to form a full and comprehensive exhibition of the righteousness of the Law, in its strict and proper sense. No doubt many of the other precepts teach substantially what these commandments did, or contain statements and regulations bearing some way upon their violation or observance. But this was not done with the view of supplying any new or additional matter of obligation; it was merely intended to explain their real import, or to give instructions how to adapt to them what might be called the jurisprudence of the State. P. F. Its two tables are a standing declaration of the true relation between morality and religion for all nations and ages. The fourth commandment is, in its principle, no exception to this. The Decalogue belonged to the Israelites, not because the truths expressed in it were exclusively theirs, but because it was revealed to them in a special manner. Clark.—The very order of the precepts is suggestive. First come our duties to God, and then those to our fellow-men. As in the Lord's Prayer we are taught to think first of God's name and kingdom, before we ask anything for ourselves, so in the Decalogue our obligations toward God are first set before us, and then those under which we lie to our fellow-men. The earliest thing to be sought by any one is to be right with God, and that will bring him into harmony with men. Religion is the foundation of morality. The first table of the Law is the root and trunk of the tree; the second is the outbranching, efflorescence, and fruitage thereof. W. M. T.—No theory of morals is built upon the deepest foundation which does not recognize the final ground of the obligation of duty in the voice of God. Duty is debitum—debt. Who is the creditor? Myself? An impersonal law? Society? No, God. The practice of morality depends, like its theory, on religion. In the long run, and on the wide scale, nations and periods which have lost the latter will not long keep the former in any vigor or purity. He who begins by erasing the first commandment will sooner or later make a clean sweep of all the ten. And, on the other hand, wherever there is true worship of the one God, there all fair charities between man and man will flourish and fruit. The two tables are one law. Duties to God come first, and those to man, who is made in the image of God, flow from these. A. M. By every precaution against their destruction and by every honor which could be paid to them, God seemed to intimate what a peculiar value was to be attached to this central code of duty; as though he would imprint on Israel and on us this great truth, that no rites of worship and no statutes of civil jurisprudence are of worth in his eyes unless, at the heart of them all, there lie enshrined and observed the great maxims of spiritual religion and of everlasting rectitude. It is morality which must lie at the basis of national order and prosperity. It is religion which must form a foundation for national morals. Both religion and morality must live as the informing soul at the centre of a nation's institutes, if the nation is to possess true vitality. Are not these the lessons taught by the very history of the Decalogue, and by its position in the statute books of Israel? Dykes. It was the boast of Josephus, that whereas other legislators had made religion to be a part of virtue, Moses had made virtue to be a part of religion. Of this, among all other indications, the Ten Commandments are the most remarkable and enduring example. Delivered with every solemnity of which place and time could admit, treasured up with every sanctity which religion could confer, within the holiest shrine of the holiest of the holy places—more sacred than altar of sacrifice or altar of incense—they yet contain almost nothing of local or ceremonial injunction. The words were "written by the finger of God," but the tables were not less surely fragments hewn out of the rock of Horeb. Hard, stiff, abrupt as the cliffs from which they were taken, they remain as the firm, unyielding basis on which all true spiritual religion has been built up and sustained. The Ten Commandments, in letter and in spirit, represent to us, both in fact and in idea, the granite foundation, the immovable mountain on which the world is built up; without which all theories of religion are but as shifting and fleeting clouds; they give us the two homely fundamental laws, which all subsequent revelation has but confirmed and sanctified—the law of our duty toward God, and the law of our duty toward our neighbor. A. P. S. It is a law exclusively religious and moral, which only busies itself about the duties of man to God and to his fellow-creatures, and admits, by its very silence, all the varying forms of government that the external or internal State of society may seem to require. Characteristic, grand, and original, not to be met with in the primitive laws of any other nascent state, and an admirable and remarkable manifestation of the Divine origin of this one! It is to man's natural and his moral destiny that the Decalogue addresses itself; it is to guide man's soul and his inmost will that it lays down rules; whereas it surrenders his external, his civil condition to all the varying chances of place and of time. Another characteristic of this law is not less original or less urgent. It places God, and man's duties toward God, at the head and front of man's life and man's duties; it unites intimately religion and morality, and regards them as inseparable. If philosophers, in studying, discriminate between them; if they seek in human nature the special principle or principles of morality; if they consider the latter by itself and apart from religion, it is the right of science to do so. But still the result is but a scientific work, only a partial dissection of man's soul, addressed to only one part of its faculties, and holding no account of the entirety and the reality of the soul's life. The human body, taken as one whole, is by nature at once moral and religious; the moral law that he finds in himself needs an author and a judge; and God is to him the source and guarantee, the Alpha and Omega of morality. Guizot. The Law of God is not a string of precepts; it is a principle, a spirit, a unity. It encircles one like a ring of gold. If he steps over it at any point, he goes outside of it, and is a transgressor as really as though he should break it in pieces at every point. J. P. T. The Law is to be regarded as a unity. It is not made up of isolated precepts. Our Saviour declares that it is summed up in two commandments. And the aposile reminds us that "Love is the fulfilling of the Law" love to God the root, and love to man the fruit. Taking them in order, the first four require of us a love that shall worship God alone, honoring his nature, revering his name, and guarding his rest day for his special service. The six later ones enjoin love to man, requiring loyalty in the home, restraint in the temper, purity of the body, fidelity of the hand, government of the tongue, unselfishness in the heart. What part or power of our being is there that is not held in the Law's comprehensive grasp? And how deeply it strikes! It is a "critic" of the thoughts and intents of the heart. No superficial obedience can meet its claims. It is not difficult to see the purpose which it was designed to serve. It was the basis of Israel's national life and legislation. It was for the instruction of the nations round about. And though it was set on a basis of redeeming mercy, it was designed to awaken the conscience to a sense of sin, to take the people to school, and thus to become their child-guide unto Christ. It was a form, written, of that high, that holy, that eternal law of righteousness which is the same for all times, all places, and all peoples—yea, of that Law of perfect love which the Divine Being fulfils in absolute perfection, and after which he would have his creatures conformed. C. C. If men loved God supremely, there would be no idolatry upon the earth, nor any of its attendant abominations; no profaning of the name of God, nor making a gain of godliness; no perjuries nor hypocrisies, no pride nor self-complacency under the smiles of Providence; no murmuring, sullenness, no suicide under its frowns. Love would render it men's meat and drink to obey God, and they would take everything well at his hands. And if they loved their fellow-creatures as themselves, there would be no wars between nations; no strifes between neighbors; no intolerance nor persecuting bitterness in religion; no deceit nor overreaching in trade; there would be no murders, thefts nor robberies; no cruelty in parents or masters; no ingratitude nor disobedience in children or servants; no unkindness nor treachery between friends; no jealousies nor bitter contentions in families—in short, none of those streams of death, one or more of which flow through every vein of society, and poison its enjoyments. Andrew Fuller. Its contents are just what they ought to be. They enjoin only what is right; they forbid only what is wrong. They err neither in excess nor in defect. No error or incongruity can be detected from beginning to end. The ground that is covered takes in all the relations and interests of man, the recognition, the worship, the reverence, and the proportion of time he owes to God, all relative duties arising from the family, the household and the state, the regard due to the life, the domestic circle, the property, and the good name of one's neighbor; and then the whole winds up with a precept that shows that thought as well as speech and act is included in the obligation. No modern theory of practical ethics discloses any duty which is not contained in the Sinaitic summary. That summary is suited to all lands, all races, all times, all states of society. It contains nothing that is sectional, or national, or fortuitous, or temporary. It is addressed to man as man everywhere and always. It lays hold of Jew and Greek, Barbarian and Scythian, male and female, bond and free, high and low, all nations, all classes without exception; for whatever other differences obtain, all stand upon the same footing as rational, responsible beings, and alike need some authoritative directory of conduct. . . . The perfection of the Decalogue may be argued from its manifest reasonableness. If there be no God, then religion does not exist, and it is folly to talk of sacred precepts; but if there be a God, the maker of heaven and earth, and sole ruler of the children of men, the one in whom we live and move and have our being, then the duties prescribed in the first table are due unto him. Nothing less can meet his exalted claims. Every feeling of propriety and gratitude summons us to render to him love, honor, reverence, worship, and obedience. And so with the other part of the Ten Words. If men be a race, if they have sprung from a common ancestor, if they are of one blood, if they are linked together, not casually or temporarily, but by a bond of nature, then beyond question they owe to each other all that the second table enjoins. They are members one of another, and as such must be governed invariably by the law of love. There is nothing arbitrary or capricious in any precept. All spring from a common source, and are self-commended by their bearing upon human welfare. And as far as the Decalogue is obeyed in its spirit, just so far is earth made to resemble heaven. . . . The Decalogue stands alone in the literature of the world. Whether we go to the west or to the farthest east, nowhere is there found anything approaching it in correctness and completeness as a standard of human duty. All rivals fall short either in excess or in defect. They are vague or inaccurate or confused. They mingle the trivial with the important, or they confuse ethics with politics or economics. They overlook the state of the heart, and they omit to ground their precepts either in right reason or the will of the supreme lawgiver. In distinction from all these, the Ten Words stand out as a clean-cut manual, resolving all duty into its essential principles, stating these with the utmost precision and clearness, and basing them upon the nature and perfections of the ever-living God. As has well been said, "There is contained in this short summary the outline of all treatises on morality and all codes of justice. Not the least blemish of any vicious or barbarous legislation is mingled with it. The form is Hebrew, national; but the truth is as broad as human life, and fitted to the wants of the race. If we compare this code with the remains of other ancient peoples, with the code of Menu, the sacred books of China, the fragments of the Persian religion, there is nothing like it." Chambers. If these Ten Commandments are examined closely reasons will appear on the face of them for their perpetual obligation. Their binding force comes not from the fact that they are enactments, but from the fact that they represent duties that cannot be separated from man's well-being, or even from the normal conception of right and righteousness. They were before the Mosaic code, and they will survive it, like the life that precedes organization and outlives it. Had God not said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," it would have been sin to worship any other God. And so of every other command. The Sabbath can be traced back to Eden, and was sanctified before any sin marred the creation, and even before one prohibition was laid upon man. These laws need no apology or vindication, because the moral instinct of mankind approves them as holy, just, and good. We might almost say that if God had not framed the Decalogue, the conscience and reason of man would have demanded it. Pierson. It was not given to give life. "By the deeds of the Law shall no flesh living be justified." It was designed as a Divine revelation of man's religious and moral duties, as a perfect standard and rule of obedience, and one of perpetual and universal obligation. For as every precept of it flows directly from the unchangeable perfections of God, it must forever make the same uncompromising demand upon the obedience of its subjects. The ceremonial statutes might serve a temporary end and be abolished. But the moral law must necessarily enter into the Christian dispensation, and pervade it through every period of its existence. It will even pass into heaven itself, and there be the delight and govern the service of every glorified spirit and ministering angel. Bush. The brevity of the Sinaitic Law, its comprehensiveness and its spirituality, its firm theistic cautions and its ethical effectiveness—these, its own qualities, these, its intrinsic attestations, this, its proper force for grasping and holding the human conscience—these qualities, which are, indeed, the strength of the Law, given in ten precepts, have, from that remote age to this, commanded the conscience of men, wherever the knowledge of it has come. These Ten Words, true as to their substance in all worlds, and of perpetual force, as in heaven so toward the human family throughout all time—this Sinaitic proclamation—who is it now that shall dare spend upon it his nugatory criticism? I. T.—How marvellous is the logical arrangement! How completely exhaustive its requirements! How all-searching its reach—leaving not an act of the life or thought of the soul untouched. Who can carefully study it and not see that “a greater than Moses is here?” Simple in its structure, sublime in its aim, all-embracing in its infinite sweep, and glorious in its holiness, it stands before us as a blazing mirror, reflecting the attributes of God. S. R. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it, so as to make it better. It is perfect. The first commandment directs us to make the Creator the object of our supreme love and reverence. This is right. If he be our creator, preserver, and supreme benefactor, we ought to treat him, and none other, as such. The second forbids idolatry. The third forbids profaneness. The fourth finds a time for religious worship. If there be a God, he ought surely to be worshipped. It is suitable that there should be an outward homage, significant of our inward regard. If God is to be worshipped, it is proper that some time should be set apart for that purpose, when all may worship him harmoniously and without interruption. One day in seven is certainly not too much. The fifth defines the peculiar duties arising from the family relations. Injuries to our neighbor are then classified by the moral law. They are divided into offences against life, chastity, property, and character. And, applying a legal idea, I notice that the greatest offence in each class is expressly forbidden. Thus, the greatest injury to life is murder; to chastity, adultery; to property, theft; to character, perjury. Now, the greater offence must include the less of the same kind. Murder must include every injury to life; adultery, every injury to purity, and so of the rest. And the moral code is closed and perfected by a command forbidding every improper desire in regard to our neighbor. Where did Moses get that law? I have read history. The Egyptian and adjacent nations were idolaters; so were the Greeks and Romans; and the wisest and best Greeks or Romans never gave a code of morals like this. Where did Moses get this Law, which surpasses the wisdom and philosophy of the most enlightened age? He lived at a period comparatively barbarous, but he has given a law in which the learning and sagacity of all subsequent time can detect no flaw. Where did he get it? He could not have soared so high above his age as to have devised it himself. It must have come from heaven. An. Worshipping the Deity under the image of even the lower creature-forms, the religion of Egypt must have been of an essentially grovelling tendency, and could scarcely fail to have carried along with it many foul excesses and pollutions. Some of the most profound inquirers into the religion of the ancients have recently shown, on evidence the most complete, that the worship of ancient Egypt was essentially of a bacchanalian character, full of lust and revelry; that its most frequented rites were accompanied with scenes of wantonness and impure indulgence; and that it sometimes gave rise to enormities not fit to be mentioned. Such was the atmosphere in which the Israelites had lived during their abode in Egypt; and it was when fresh from such a region that the Law of the Ten Commandments was proclaimed in their hearing, and given to be enshrined in the innermost recess of their sacred structure—a law which unfolds the clearest views of God’s character and service—which denounces every form and species of idolatry as inconsistent with the spirituality of the Divine nature—which enjoins the purest worship and the highest morality, and in its very form is a model of perfection and completeness. Wisdom of this kind Moses could least of all have learned from the Egyptians; nor could it have been his, unless it had descended to him from above. P. F.—Step by step in the space of one thousand years the whole world had become utterly degraded. As men became gods, their gods more and more became men, with all the follies, vices, and passions of men. Thus the idolatry of Assyria, Phœnicia, Egypt, had become foul and odious. And these were the centres of the world’s civilization and power. Now, just at the lowest stage of this degradation, in every nation of earth, as all history testifies, arises this man Moses among a band of Egyptian slaves, and sets forth to the world a law every way worthy of the character of God, as reason will certify. Whence, then, came this Law? From what human source could he have gathered it in such an age? There is but one of two solutions of the wonder possible—either the eternal God spake it and gave it to Moses, or Moses and his Law of Ten Commandments stands yet as the greatest miracle of all history. S. R. When we know how early in the world's history this Law was promulgated, it is very marvellous to find that an infant nation should, at starting, have a code of moral law so complete, yea, so elevated, that no other nation at that time presented anything like it, and that even now, thirty-three hundred years afterward, not the wisest man in the world can suggest anything loftier! The kingdoms of Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, have furnished us with naught like this, to say nothing of the Roman, Grecian, and Persian empires, the earliest of which was not founded for centuries after. And if, leaving the merely civil and political side of legislation, we ask for an embodiment of a moral and religious code on which legislation could safely be based, we do not find aught to be compared with this. Nor, if we look at the record of the national life of the very people to whom this Law was first given, do we find that even they approximated to conformity to it. In fact, nothing is more marked in their subsequent literature than their grievous departure from their own standards. When man makes any code of laws, those laws reflect himself and his own standard of attainment. But here is a code far beyond the attainment of any yet recorded nation. It is not necessary, however, to go to ancient nations to show that this Law betokens a higher than human origin. Look at legislation now. Look at the moral sentiment of peoples now. What is the cry? Love thy neighbor as thyself? Emphatically no! But "take care of your own interests, and let your neighbors look after themselves!" "Remove your neighbor's landmark as you think well!" Why, if no nation in the world is good enough to adopt the standard of the Decalogue, could it have created it, without ever having had any of its educating influence? And if no nation now could do it, how could they who were just liberated from centuries of slavery? But more than this. This Law is high above the attainment of well-trained Christian congregations. Let a minister proclaim the mercy of God in forgiving sin, and his preaching may charm. Let him insist on the demands of God's righteousness, and while some earnest holy souls will lay it to heart, and humble themselves before God, many will be offended at the enforcement of righteousness. This Law from man? No! it is too good for that. When man is brought face to face with its holy heart-searchingness he hates it! But again. Take the most advanced and holiest Christian you can find. Let him stand in full front of this holy Law— and soon he will be crying out, in agony, "God be merciful to me the sinner!" "But," it may be said, "are not Christians always preaching up to a higher level than that of their attainments?" But why? Because they feel and know that here is a Law which is infinitely above them, and which proclaims its intrinsic authority, and proves itself Divine. This Law shines by its own light, and is "a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path." C. C. # The Law and the Ceremonial Institutions of the Old Testament. The Law, perfect in its character and perpetual in its obligation, formed the groundwork of all the symbolical services afterward imposed; as was distinctly implied in the place chosen for its permanent position. For, as the centre of all Judaism was the Tabernacle, so the centre of this again was the Law—the Ark, which stood enshrined in the Most Holy Place, being made for the sole purpose of keeping the two tables of the covenant. So that the reflection could hardly fail to force itself on all considerate and intelligent worshippers, that the observance of this Law was the great end of the religion then established. And imperfect as those symbolical rites and services were, the members of the Old Covenant were still chiefly dependent upon them for having the character of the Divine Law exhibited to their minds, and its demands kept fresh upon the conscience. It was therefore fit that they should pervade all the more important relations of life, that the Israelite might thus find something in what he ordinarily saw and did—in the very food he ate and the garments he wore—to remind him of the Law of his God, and stimulate him to the cultivation of that righteousness which it was his paramount duty to cherish and exemplify. Were these things duly considered, another and worthier reason would easily be discovered for the occasional intermingling of the moral and the ceremonial parts of the Mosaic legislation, than what is very commonly assigned. This did not arise from a confounding of the positive and moral, the shadowy and the abiding, as if they stood upon the same level, and no distinction were recognized betwixt them. The position of the Law of the Ten Commandments in the ark of the covenant, to say nothing of the other marks of distinction belonging to it, stood as a perpetual sign before the eyes of the people, that the things there enjoined held immeasurably the highest rank. It is, in truth, the most sublime exaltation of the moral above all material symbols of revelation, or ceremonial forms of worship, to be found in the religious annals of antiquity. In heathendom there is nothing to be compared with it, nor in the after history of the covenant people is there anything that can justly be placed above it. The elevated moral teaching of the prophets is but the reflection, or specific and varied application, of what stood embodied before them in the lofty pattern exhibited in the handwriting of Moses, wherein the ceremonial was appointed only for the sake of the moral, and in a relation of subservience to it. P. F. # Relation of the Law to the Promise. The Old Testament Church had two covenants connected with her constitution—a covenant of grace as well as of law; and that the covenant of law, as it came last, so it took for granted the provisions of the elder covenant of grace. It was grafted upon this, and grew out of it. Hence, in revealing the terms of the legal covenant, the Lord spake to the Israelites as already their God, from whom they had received life and freedom—proclaimed himself as the God of mercy as well as of holiness—recognized their title to the inheritance as his own sovereign gift to them—thus making it clear to all, that the covenant of law raised itself on the ground of the previous covenant of grace, and sought to carry out this to its legitimate consequences and proper fruits. It was to impart greater solemnity to this revelation of righteousness—to give to its calls of duty a deeper impression and firmer hold upon the conscience—to render it clear and palpable that the things required in it were of most sure and indispensable obligation—it was for such reasons alone that the Law, after being proclaimed from Sinai, was solemnly ratified as a covenant (Ex. 24:3-8). But its having been turned into a covenant did not confer on it a different character from that which belonged to it as a rule of life and conduct, or materially affect the results that sprang either from obedience or disobedience to its demands; nor was any effect contemplated beyond that of adding to its moral weight and deepening its hold upon the conscience. And the very circumstance of its being ratified as a covenant, having God in the relation of a Redeemer for one of the contracting parties, was fraught with comfort and encouragement; since an assurance was thus virtually given, that what God in the one covenant of law required his people to do, he stood pledged in the other covenant of promise with his Divine help to aid them in performing. The blood of the covenant as much involved a Divine obligation to confer the grace to obey, as it bound them to render the obedience. That this also is the order of God's procedure with men under the Gospel, nothing but the most prejudiced mind can fail to perceive. Everywhere does God there present himself to his people as in the first instance a giver of life and blessing, and only afterward as an exactor of obedience to his commands. Their obedience, so far from entitling to salvation, can never be acceptably rendered till they have become partakers of the blessings of salvation. These blessings are altogether of grace, and are therefore received through faith. For what is faith but the acceptance of heaven's grant of salvation, or a trusting in the record in which the grant is conveyed? So that, in the order of each man's experience, there must be, as is fully brought out in the Epistle to the Romans, first a participation in the mercies of God, and then growing out of this a felt and constraining obligation to run the way of God's commandments. Men must first become partakers of grace through the channel of God's own providing. Only when they have done this are they in a condition to please and honor him. Not more certainly is faith without works dead, than all works are dead which do not spring from the living root of faith already implanted in the heart. P. F. # The Law a Schoolmaster, Leading to Christ. The apostle states (Gal. 3:19) that "the Law was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." It was added to the provisions secured in the earlier covenant of promise because of the disposition in the hearts of the people to transgress the obligations under which they stood. It had an immediate and direct purpose of restraining the innate tendency to transgression, while it might be said to have the further end in view of preparing the minds of men for that coming seed. It brought the people into contact with the moral character of God, and bound them by covenant sanctions and engagements to make that the standard after which they should endeavor to regulate their conduct. But conscience, enlightened and aroused by the lofty ideal of truth and duty thus presented to it, became but the more sensible of transgressions committed against the righteousness required. Instead of being a witness to which men could appeal in proof of their having fulfilled the high ends for which they have been chosen and redeemed by God, the Law rather did the part of an accuser, testifying against them of broken vows and violated obligations. And thus keeping perpetually alive upon the conscience a sense of guilt, it served to awaken in the hearts of those who really understood its spiritual meaning, a feeling of the need, and a longing expectation of the coming, of him who was to bring in the more perfect state of things, and take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. It was this feature of the Law which the same apostle had more particularly in his eye, when he described it as a "schoolmaster to lead men to Christ," shutting them up, by its stern requirements and wholesome discipline, to the faith which was afterward to be revealed. And the contrast which he draws in 2 Cor. 3 between the Law and the Gospel, proceeds entirely upon the same ground in reference to the Law; that is, it is viewed simply as a revelation of the perfect righteousness of God, and apart from the covenant of promise with which it was connected, fitted only to inspire fear, or to bring condemnation. He therefore calls it the ministration of condemnation, a letter that killeth, as in Rom. 7:10 he testifies of having found it in his own experience to be unto death: The apostle does not mean to say that this was properly the object for which the Law was given; but that it was an inseparable effect attending it, arising from the perfection of its character as a rule of righteousness, compared with the manifold imperfections and sins of men. And hence it only required spiritual minds, first to make them deeply sensible of their own guilt, and then to awaken in them the desire of something higher and better than was then provided for the true consolation of Israel. An important connection thus arises between the Law and the Gospel, and both are seen to hold respectively their proper places in the order of the Divine dispensations. "It is true," as Tholuck has remarked with sound discrimination, "that the New Testament speaks more of grace than of sin; but did it not on this very account presuppose the existence of the Old Covenant with the Law, and a God who is an holy and jealous God, that will not pass by transgression and sin? The Old Covenant was framed for the conviction of sin, the New for the forgiveness of sin. The moral law, which God has written in indelible lines upon the heart of every man, was once also proclaimed with much solemnity from Sinai, that it might be clear that God, who appeared in fire and flame as the revealer of his holy Law, is the same who has imprinted the image of holiness deep in the secret chambers of the bosom. Is not Israel, incessantly resisting with his stiff neck the God of love, until he has always again been reduced to subjection by the God of fiery indignation, an image of proud humanity in its constant warfare against God, who seeks to conquer them by anger and love?" Hence the order of God's dispensations is substantially also the order of each man's experience. The sinner must be humbled and bruised by the Law—that is, through the manifestation of God's righteousness, he must have his conscience aroused to a sense of sin—before he can be brought heartily to acquiesce in the Gospel method of salvation. P. F. #### Relation of the Christian to the Law. When the believer receives Christ as the Lord his righteousness, he is not only justified by grace, but he comes into a state of grace, or gets grace into his heart as a living, reigning, governing principle of life. What, however, is this grace but the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus? And this Spirit is emphatically the Holy Spirit; holiness is the very element of his being, and the essential Law of his working; every desire he breathes, every feeling he awakens, every action he disposes and enables us to perform, is according to godliness. And if only we are sufficiently possessed of this Spirit, and yield ourselves to his direction and control, we no longer need the restraint and discipline of the Law; we are free from it, because we are superior to it. Quickened and led by the Spirit, we of ourselves love and do the things which the Law requires. Does not nature itself teach substantially the same lesson in its line of things? The child, so long as he is a child, must be subject to the law of his parents; his safety and well-being depend on his being so; he must on every side be hemmed in, checked, and stimulated by that law of his parents, otherwise mischief and destruction will infallibly overtake him. But as he ripens toward manhood he becomes freed from this law, because he no longer needs such external discipline and restraint. He is a law to himself, putting away childish things, and of his own accord acting as the parental authority, had he still been subject to it, would have required and enforced him to do. In a word, the mind has become his from which the parental law proceeded, and he has consequently become independent of its outward prescriptions. And what is it to be under the grace of God's Spirit, but to have the mind of God?—the mind of him who gave the Law simply as a revelation of what was in his heart respecting the holiness of his people. So that the more they have of the one, the less obviously they need of the other; and if only they were complete in the grace of the Spirit, they should be wholly independent of the bonds and restrictions of the Law. . . . The Law would be of no use to those really under the Spirit if the work of spiritual renovation, which his grace is given to effect, were perfected in us. But since this is far from being the case—since imperfection still cleaves to the child of God, and the flesh, in a greater or less degree, still wars against the Spirit, the outward discipline of the Law can never be safely dispensed with. Even Paul was obliged to confess that he found the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and that though he was ever following after, he was conscious of not having yet attained to the full measure of grace and excellence in Christ. Therefore, for his own quickening and direction, as well as for that of others, he felt it needful to press the demands of law, and to look to the exceeding breadth of its requirements. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ As it is contained in two tables, so Moses reduces it to two heads, that we should love God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves; for although he does not unite the two in one passage, yet Christ, by whose Spirit he spoke, explains to us his intention (Matt. 22 : 37). Calv.—The voice of God himself gave forth the Law by which his people were to live; the TEN COMMANDMENTS, on which all other laws were to be founded, and which were themselves summed up under the Old Covenant as well as the New, in two great principles: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself." P. S. The New Testament is sometimes put in contrast with the Old, as a spirit of love and of life. But love is no less the spirit of the Law than of the Gospel; and though the Law given by Moses, both as a national code and a ritual of worship, required many specific and minute observances, yet its fundamental idea was spiritual consecration to God, as the spring of all duty, the substance of all devotion. This Law was reasonable in its demand, simple in its rule, and had in itself the inspiration of a true life. All its commandments were for good; all its requirements were summed up in the one word love. J. P. T.—As understood by Moses and the people, this Law was not regarded as a series of positive injunctions relating to overt acts, but as inculcating clearly and authoritatively the two great principles which Jesus in the Gospel asserted to be the sum and substance of the Law. It is the singular but very common blunder of even many expounders of the Gospel that Jesus for the first time brought out the great principle of love "as the fulfilling of the Law," and that it was an original sentiment of Jesus that on the two commands of love to God and love to man depends "the whole Law and the prophets." Whereas it was Moses himself, the lawgiver, who declared (De. 6 : 4): "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, with all thine heart, and with all thy might." "And now, Israel (De. 10 : 12), what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to love him and serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul." So, again, it was Moses who said (Lev. 19 : 18), "Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord." And it was Moses, the lawgiver, who said (Lev. 19 : 33): "If a stranger sojourn with thee in thy land ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." And yet, under a strange infatuation, men dare to say and to teach that this Old Testament contains the harsher dispensation, presenting the sterner attributes both of God and man! Whereas, as Tayler Lewis so justly remarks, "the Old Testament is peculiarly the emotional part of Holy Scripture, presenting everything in the strongest manner and in strongest contrast, whether it be wrath or tenderness, indignation against apostasy or love for the oftimes apostate and rebellious people. It may even be maintained that the New Testament, though more didactic, is less tender in its language, less abounding in pictures of melting compassion on the part of God, and devoted affection of one human heart for another." Is there anything in the New Testament theology more expressive of the love of God for sinners than the theology of the proclamation of Moses—"The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin" (Ex. 34 : 6), or anything more amiable in the New Testament ethics than the ethics of Moses' summary of the Law? Nay, did not Jesus himself say of that golden rule, so much admired as his teaching, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so unto them;” that instead of being original in his teachings—“this is the Law and the prophets”—that is, the spirit of the whole teachings of the Old Testament? On what possible ground, then, can this notion of some general difference between the Old and New Testament theology, ethics, and spirit rest, than upon some strange, invincible ignorance of the teaching and spirit of the Old Testament Gospel? S. R. The prophets of the Old Testament were continually striving to recall men from mere outward observances to the sincere piety toward God and deeds of kindness to man required by the Law of the two tables; so that the prophets, as well as the Law, were truly said to hang upon one and the same commandment of love. P. F.—There was in the Law of Moses a spiritual law—a law of internal obedience—a law of love, which the Jews might have discerned, had they been willing; and in fact, many among the Jews had discerned it. It is of this spiritual law that the great Law-Maker affirms that not “one jot or tittle” will be lost. Nay, he, Son of God and Son of Man, perfect in truth, in holiness, and in love, came to fulfil the Law and to establish it forever; and this he has done not only in his life and death, but also in his instructions in which he sums it up—that is, gathers together its leading features, and spiritualizes it—that is, acquaints us with its inmost meaning, its whole bearing, extent, and force. In this respect the Gospel is a second edition, perfected by a master-hand, of the writings of the Old Testament. It is, if we prefer it, a Divine translation. The Law henceforth is spiritual for all, even for them who are not spiritual. Vinet. Nor is the language too strong, if rightly understood, which has often been applied to this law, that it is a kind of transcript of God’s own pure and righteous character—i.e., a faithful and exact representation of that spiritual excellence which eternally belongs to himself, and which he must eternally require of his accountable creatures. The love to God and man, which constitutes its all-pervading element, and for which the several precepts only indicate the particular ways and channels wherein it should flow—this love man is indispensably bound in all times and circumstances to cherish in his heart, and manifest in his conduct. For the God in whom he lives and moves and has his being is love; and as the duty and perfection of the creature is to bear the image of the Creator, so to love as he loves—himself first and supremely, and his offspring in him and for him—must ever be the bounden obligation and highest end of those whom he calls his children. P. F. The Law of Moses enjoined love to God with the most unceasing solicitude, and love to our neighbor as extensively and forcibly as the peculiar design of the Jewish economy and the peculiar character of the Jewish people would permit; it impressed the deepest conviction of God’s requiring not mere external observances, but heartfelt piety, well-regulated desires, and active benevolence; it taught that sacrifice could not obtain pardon without repentance, or repentance without reformation and restitution; it described circumcision itself, and by consequence every other legal rite, as designed to typify and inculcate internal holiness, which alone could render men acceptable to God; and it represented the love of God to men as designed to act as a practical principle stimulating to the constant and sincere cultivation of purity, mercy, and truth. Graves. The kernel of the Law, given to Israel through Moses, is love to God and to man. But this general and central principle finds man a member of a family, of society, of a nation. It finds him living in this world of seed-time and harvest, of work and rest, of buying and selling, of sickness and death. What does the Law do? The Law says, God loves you; and God desires that you may have his presence and blessing always. Therefore the Law takes cognizance of every branch of human life. It refers to our food and to our garment; it accompanies us from our birth to our grave. It claims our time and our wealth; it connects seed-time and harvest, all natural life with spiritual truths, redemption-acts, and anticipations of the future glory. There is nothing in our life in which God is not interested, where he is to be absent; there is nothing wherein we may not glorify and obey him. Saphir. These Ten Commandments cover the whole duty of man to God and to his fellow. The civil and criminal codes of a State fill volumes with endless definitions and specifications; but here all is reduced to the single principle of love, and to a brief but comprehensive statement of the relations to which that principle must be applied. This Law deals with man as a subject of the government of God, as a member of the family and of society. Toward God he is required to observe the reverence and devotion due to the one Jehovah, his Maker, Preserver, and Redeemer. In the family, filial love and veneration are enjoined as peculiarly acceptable to God. Society is protected by this code in all its vital interests—life, chastity, property, and character; and as love is made the essence of obedience to God, so here we are forbidden to indulge a selfish desire with regard to anything that is our neighbor's. Obedience to this Law would make a perfect human society, and render every individual secure in his own person and possessions, and happy in his relations to others. The Law manifests the love of God: love is its spirit; love, its rule; and only love will be its reward. J. P. T. The Mosaic moral code adds to the Egyptian ethics the love of God and that of man as the root of moral obedience, and thus gives that obedience a sufficient motive force, and one that we cannot trace in the Egyptian doctrine. R. S. Poole. De. 6: 5. To the one indivisible Jehovah undivided devotion and love are due. Hence the injunction, Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. The "heart" is the inner nature of the man, including his intellectual, emotional, and conative faculties; the "soul" is the personality, the entire self-consciousness; and the "might" is the sum of the energies, bodily and mental. Not by profession merely is Jehovah to be loved; the whole man, body, soul, and spirit, is to be yielded to Him in holy and devout affection. W. L. A. Love to God is the source of everything which is good in man. It is a peculiar excellency in the Jewish and Christian dispensations to have formally and solemnly laid down this principle so as to make it a governing, actuating principle of life. This did Moses, or rather God by the mouth of Moses; expressly, formally, solemnly. This did Christ; adopting, repeating, ratifying what the Law had already declared; and not only ratifying but singling it out from the body of precepts which composed the old institution, and giving it a pre-eminence to every other. Paley. Supreme love to God our Lord calls the first and great commandment, because He who is the object of it is the first and greatest of all beings, and therefore the duties owing to him must have the precedence and pre-eminence over every other; because it is the grand leading principle of right conduct, the original source and fountain from which all Christian graces flow, from whence the living waters of religion take their rise, and branch out into all the various duties of human life; because, in fine, it is, when fervent and sincere, the grand master-spring of human conduct; the only motive sufficiently powerful to subdue our strongest passions, to carry us triumphantly through the severest trials, and render us superior to the most formidable temptations. Bp. Porteous. It stands upon the surface of the code that the forms and manifestations of love to God occupy the first and most prominent place, while those which are expressive of love to man take a secondary and, in a sense, dependent rank. Religion is made the basis of morality—piety toward God the living root of good-will and integrity toward men; and on this great principle, that unless there were maintained a dutiful and proper regard to the great Head of the human family, it could not reasonably be expected that men would feel and act aright to the different members of the family. There may be a measure of love and fair dealing between man and man, where there is no spiritual acquaintance with God, and no principle of dutiful allegiance to him. Were it not so society in countries where the true religion is unknown would fall to pieces. But in such cases, the love is destitute of what might give it either the requisite stability or the proper spirit; it is not sustained by adequate views of men's relationship to God, nor animated by the motives which are supplied by a consideration of their higher calling and destiny; hence it is necessarily defective, partial, irregular, in its manifestations. It was, therefore, in accordance with the truest wisdom, that the things which belong to God were, in this condensed summary of Divine requirement, exalted to the first place; and in further attestation of their pre-eminent rank and importance, it is to the commands connected with this branch of duty chiefly, if not exclusively, that special reasons have been attached enforcing the obedience required. In all the later precepts there is a simple enunciation of the command. P. F. Solemn prayers and sacraments, the assemblies of the faithful and acts of external worship, are the solemnities and rites of religion; but the religion of a Christian is in the heart and spirit. And this is that by which Clemens Alexandrinus defined the righteousness of a Christian, "all the parts and faculties that make up a man must make up our religion;" but the heart is "the court" of the great King; and he is properly served with interior graces and moral virtues, with a humble and a good mind, with a bountiful heart and a willing soul, and these will command the eye, and give laws to the hand, and make the shoulders stoop; but "a man's soul is the man," and so is his religion; and so you are bound to understand it. The sum is this: no Christian does his duty to God but he that serves him with all his heart; and although it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness, even the external also, yet that which makes gracious in his eyes is not the external, it is the love of the heart and the real change of the mind, and obedience of the spirit; that is the first great measure of the righteousness evangelical. Bp. Taylor. When we understand the whole structure of man and his relations, it is as obvious that he was made to love God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself, as it is that the eye was made to see with or the ear to hear with. This is his highest end as active—love itself as an activity, and the further activities that spring from love. This is what he was made to do. As capable of enjoyment, his highest end is the joy that comes from thus loving. These God has inseparably united. The joy can come only from the love; the love cannot be without the joy. M. H. All the voices of revelation unite in ascribing the supremacy among the virtues to love. The Decalogue of Moses and the new commandment of Jesus; the abstract reasonings of Paul and the practical exhortations of James; the vivid and impulsive rhetoric of Peter and the subdued and tender verses of John—all blend into perfect harmony as they touch the great key-note of the Gospel, that love is of God, and that he that loveth is born of God. It has been remarked, as a striking evidence of the inspiration of the biblical authors and of the real unity of their writings, that, with all their variety of style and individuality in the type of religious truth which they present, they all agree perfectly in defining the sum and essence of the Gospel to be love. So striking a coincidence cannot be accidental. There is a rational unity in all forms of religious truth. The ground of that unity is love, which is the essence of the Divine character, the motive of revelation and redemption, and the ideal for human life. Stevens. The religion of the Mosaic covenant was not a ritualistic religion. It had a ritual certainly, orimful of Messianic symbol, but its whole core was spiritual. The love of God and one's neighbor was the inward principle which formed its heart. God, as a merciful Saviour providing a Substitute to bear the sins of Israel, and calling for their grateful love and service, was constantly exhibited to them in every ceremonial, and the words of exhortation from God to them in the Law were most touching and tender. Crosby. If there be any single attribute in which the moral character of the Supreme attains to unity, that attribute is his love. More truly than any other quality in him, wisdom, power, justice, or even pity, this may be said to be the Divine nature—"God is love." Especially in his relationship to us as our Deliverer from evils, has his love been made conspicuous. The characteristic attitude assumed by Jehovah in Old and New Testament revelation, and particularly in the Gospel, is this of a Saviour from every evil. Well, let that be the relationship under which we have learned to welcome, embrace, and confide in God through Jesus Christ; and we shall find that we have welcomed to our embrace mere, pure, and boundless love. Trace our redemption to its source: love drew him from the sky; love urged him to the tree; love raised him from the tomb; love seated him on the throne. Are we associated with the company of God's invited children within his sacred house? Love spreads the table; love furnishes the feast; love invites the guests. Range through the record which memory keeps of God's private dealings with you: is it not all unmingled, marvellous love? Love bore with your sin and pardoned it; love made you for an enemy a dear son; love chastens and love comforts; you walk abroad with his love environing your steps like a sweet atmosphere. What is the Gospel of his grace but one amazing forthpouring for our benefit of that affection for the fallen sons of men which lay deepest within God's heart—"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Dykes. God's revelation of Himself to man is meant to be a redemptive power in man. Man has heart, soul, strength, understanding, emotion, will, energy. God would have no schism in our being. Now we have one inner faculty, even that of love, which is meant to rule, and does in fact rule, the man. According to the love, so intellect thinks, emotion feels, will decides, life moves. Our text says, let love be all concentrated on one grand object—God! Let him have all. Not even in the New Testament have we a greater commandment than this. "The love of God which the Gospel demands is more intensive and cordial than that which the Law of Moses demands of the Israelites, according to the gradual unfolding of the love of God himself, which was displayed in a much grander and more glorious form in the gift of his only begotten Son for our redemption than in the redemption of Israel out of the bondage in Egypt." (Keil.) God as revealed to us in Christ—that is theology; our love responding to God's—that is religion. Without the first, in what could the religious faculty find a proper object? Without the second, infinite love is defrauded of its rights! C. C. It is in the presence of God we learn this holy art of loving him. When we can realize him near us, and fill our minds with his loveliness, and summon up to "sessions of sweet thought" what he has done for love, and sit down to muse contritely at the cross-foot, and by patient acts of confession and self-surrender make room within these crowded hearts of ours for the Dove of Purity and Peace—it is then the love of God is shed abroad in us. But if quiet and contemplation be conducive to the nourishment of Divine love within the bosom, activity and struggle in the outward life are needful to elicit its force and give it scope for exercise. Let us retire within, that faith and prayer may nurture a secret love for God our Saviour. Let us go forth abroad, that Divine love may approve itself in active service and a holy life. Let us ever aspire to a more complete, unreserved, and settled dedication of our hearts to him who first loved us; until love make worship delightful, obedience easy, and trial light; and love prepare us for that ideal beatific state of celestial preoccupation, when—all else being swallowed up in adoring love—the pure soul shall find eternal rest and joy ineffable in union to him whose name is Love! . . . Submissive, confident dependence on our Father's and our Saviour's grace makes our love to God unpresuming; gratitude makes it ardent. Gratitude for the tender mercy that has washed us in the blood of God and for all the unspeakable benefits he hath bestowed on us, is the fount whence the stream of our love is kept ever warm. And when adoration and contrition and lowly trust and fervent gratitude have done each its own part, and love, like a swollen tide, bears their mingled tribute along to Him who loved us unto death, in what ocean doth it merge at last? Surely in a glad blending of its own with the supreme and blessed will of the Eternal Lover! For the perfection of creature love is to have no other will but his who is very Love Itself; to desire nothing, choose nothing, endeavor nothing, but what pleaseth and fulfilleth God. In resignation and obedience is love consummated. On them is her strength spent. . . . Nothing should be tolerated within ourselves, in our conscious, personal life, that is not inspired, controlled, or sweetened by the love we bear our God. If this be gained, the rest must follow. Such love will overflow through all the three main channels by which our personal life pours itself abroad upon society. The mind, or intellectual activities, will obey it; the soul, or emotional and passionate nature, with its social sympathies and earthly affections, will obey it; the strength, or forces of the will, by which a resolved and energetic nature imposes itself upon others, and subdues circumstances to its purposes—this, too, will do its bidding. In short, the entire organism of the individual life is to stand entirely at the service of our love for God; so that our character, disposition, behavior, and work shall come to be just what a supreme affection for our Saviour God determines them to be. Less than this is less than duty; less than this is less than blessedness! Dykes. There is an instinctive love, sometimes called natural affection. This is common to animals and to man. It is from the emotive nature simply, and so blind and passionate, not comprehending itself or its object. As instinctive, it is an affection which leads to acts often of great apparent self-denial, which tend to promote or secure the end of the being loved. It tends to secure that, and not the end of the being putting forth the love, and is thus a beautiful type of a higher rational and disinterested love. This rational love always has its root in a generic choice. It is by having its root in such a choice that rational and moral love, and indeed all rational and moral affections, are distinguished from those that are natural. In accordance with the above, rational love presupposes a knowledge of the supreme end of the being loved, and involves the choice for him of that end. Its object must be a person. In strictness we desire things, but love only persons. It is not properly a disposition, though a disposition and a habit of acting so as to secure the end chosen will be generated by any generic act of choice. Only a rational being can have a supreme end, and the choice by us of that end for another so as to be willing to put forth efforts and make sacrifices for its attainment is rational love. In the whole process and formation of this love three things are to be distinguished. There is (1) a perception of worth as distinguished from worthiness. This is rather a condition of love than one of its elements. There is (2) a "propension" of mind, as Edwards calls it, toward the being, and a desire that he should attain his end. This is an indispensable element of love, but not the love itself. That it may become rational love there must be (3) a choice for the being of his end, and such a devotement of ourselves to him—that is, to the attainment by him of his end and good—that we shall be willing to make sacrifices for it as we would for our own. It is this last only which constitutes the whole process, rational and free, and brings it under the control of moral law. M. H. Love is the foundation of all obedience. Without it, morality degenerates into mere casuistry. Love is the foundation of all knowledge. Without it, religion degenerates into a chattering about Moses, and doctrines, and theories; a thing that will neither kill nor make alive, that never gave life to a single soul or blessing to a single heart, and never put strength into any hand in the conflict and strife of daily life. There is no more contemptible and impotent thing on the face of the earth than morality divorced from love, and religious thoughts divorced from a heart full of the love of God. Quick corruption or long decay, and in either case death and putrefaction, are the end of these! It is of no use for us to condemn Pharisees that have been dead and in their graves for eighteen hundred years. The same thing besets us all; we all of us try to get away from the centre, and dwell contented on the surface. People may try to cultivate virtue without religion, and to acquire correct notions of moral and spiritual truth, and partially and temporarily they may succeed; but the one will be a yoke of bondage, and the other a barren theory. I repeat, love is the basis of all knowledge and of all right-doing. If you have got that firm foundation laid in the soul, then the knowledge and the practice will be built in God's own good time; and if not, the higher you build the temple, and the more aspiring are its cloud-pointing pinnacles, the more certain will be its toppling some day, and the more awful will be the ruin when it comes. A. M. Love is an uncompromising principle. He has no true love, no complacency in goodness, who does not from the soul condemn everything that is evil. There is no benevolence anywhere in any moral being which is not instinctively opposed to selfishness in all its forms. One may say with truth love hates malevolence, hates all that is opposed to itself in the feelings or the manifestations of the inner life. The conception of it as consisting in a weak good-nature which is indifferent to character has no foundation in the Word of God or in the lives of men whom we cannot help revering. Love is an eleelement of a strong character which views men as they are in all their sins, which feels no favor toward the principles by which the worldly, the selfish, the proud are governed. And thus as it looks on moral evil in all its deformity, it can feel intense pity toward the blind in sin, the misguided, the fallen, the unworthy, and is ever ready to sacrifice its own interests for their good. This is the sign of love that it is capable of self-sacrifice. But no true self-sacrifice can exist without a sense of the misery of sin. Even the lower forms of love hardly deserve to be called by the name, when the motive is mere compassion, without a sense of the greatest evil in human nature. He who can relieve misery but is indifferent to the sin he sees around him, who only excuses it or makes light of it, he is not, to say the least, made perfect in love. The possibility is, that he has no true love at all. Let us remember, then, that the love that dwelt in Christ is something more than instinctive benevolence, good-nature, and compassion; that it is a moral quality of the highest order, implying in the soul repugnance to sin, to selfishness, to malevolence, to ungodliness; and that it is prompted, in the effort of doing away with sin and of reforming sinners, to all compassionate, self-sacrificing efforts. Woolsey. Love is a personal relation. In our common usage, we have greatly extended the meaning of the word "love." We often apply it to mere objects of sense or matters of fancy. These are degradations of that noblest, sublimest word which the Scriptures have consecrated to express the highest perfections of the human and the Divine character. In the biblical sense, love exists only between persons. It is a moral union of kindred beings. The outer world and the lower orders of creation are never spoken of as the objects of God's love. He takes pleasure in them; has a care for them: "his tender mercies are over all his works;" but he loves only man, because love is moral union based upon kinship of spirit. All those attachments and fancies which are beneath a high and pure moral union of spirits are excluded from the sphere of love in the sense of the New Testament. Love is a real affinity and fellowship of life. It is not a mere feeling. The conception of love as a mere stirring of emotion leads many into the dark as to what is meant when we are commanded to love God supremely. Let us put the meaning of that "first and great commandment" before ourselves as simply as possible. God is the absolutely perfect being. Love to God is sympathy, affinity, harmony, with his perfection. It is the fixed choice and constant striving of our hearts toward the perfect life. As such, love is subject to growth and progress. It is a principle of character which is at once the simplest and the profoundest. To reveal this Divine perfection to men through a life human in its experiences, yet Divine in its purity, and then to help men to choose that true and perfect life and make it the type and law of their own, is the chief purpose of Christianity. Hence religion is not mere ethics, nor mere belief, but a personal relation of sympathy and likeness to God as revealed in Jesus Christ. Love involves an intelligent choice. Love is not blind; it acts in the light of reason. Mere sensuous desire or fancy (often called "love") is blind, because it does not act from rational motives. The union of two human lives in feeling and purpose is radiant with intelligence. Their love deepens only as they understand each other, and grow into each other's thoughts more and more. No real love is possible between persons without an intelligent choice of each other. The absence of this element in that which is supposed to be love is the cause of many unhappy unions. The emotions are the warmth of love, but intelligence is its light. This consideration helps us to understand the great commandment. We are to choose God in the light of what we know him to be as the object of our service and the goal of our hopes. God has revealed himself in Christ as perfectly as our finite understandings will permit us to know him. The revelation is in the motives, principles, spirit, and teaching of Jesus. We are to choose these for our own, and make them such; to live, as Paul says, "unto Christ." To trust in the divinely revealed Saviour, and to choose and exemplify the divinely revealed principles of life, is to love God. Love enlists the whole being. It fixes every noble emotion. It kindles the life into a calm, steady flame of zeal and devotion. Love longs to give, to serve, to bless. The type of all love is the love of God for man, and God is the great giver. The whole life of Christ is a grand example of this giving impulse of love. All the truest endearments of earth serve to illustrate it. The love that gives nothing for its object may well be doubted. But the gifts of sympathy, time, kindly attentions, and thoughtful care—these are the language of love. Love to God, then, is the gift of our hearts to him. Love is the most comprehensive virtue. Paul teaches this clearly when, in speaking of the graces of the Christian life—kindness, humility, forbearance, and forgiveness—he adds: "And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness" (Col. 3:14). All other virtues have their unity in love. Hence the same apostle teaches that the end of Christian instruction is love (1 Tim. 1:5), and that love is "the fulfilment of the Law" (Rom. 13:10). We can easily see that every form of goodness is included in the sphere of love, since love is the supreme choice and service of God, the perfect character. All truths concerning God find their unity in the supreme truth that "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16). Love is moral completeness. God is righteous because he is love, since love is eternally holy. He is kind and merciful because he is love, since love is eternally benevolent. In this grand truth all Christian doctrines are brought into unity and harmony. Love is the only principle on which any high form of human society is possible. If the members of a community do not minister to each other's good; if they do not serve or help one another—that is, if they do not act, in greater or less degree, on the principle of love, no society is possible. Selfishness, which is the opposite of love, is isolation, and would be the destruction of social life. Love is the only bond that can hold men together in pleasant and helpful relations. Christianity, therefore, holds the only principle on which a true civilization can be built. The law of sacrifice is the law of life for communities and nations as well as for individuals. Even the other elements which must enter into all high civilizations, such as wealth, science, and the arts, can be but sparingly utilized for the good of the community except under the law of love. To look not only on one's own things, but also on the things of others, is the essential condition of all social happiness and well-being. The law of love is the law of freedom from sin. It is not too strong language to say that love works a moral impossibility of sinning. He that is born of God (he whose life is under the sway of the law of love) cannot commit sin, because he is born of God (1 John 3:9). Sin and love are opposite principles, and if we sin, this is proof that our lives are not perfectly under the sway of the law of love. The more completely they shall become so, the more complete will be our deliverance from sin and our harmony with the Divine life. In Jesus alone, among men, do we see this reign of love supreme and perfect, and to him sin is morally impossible. A strength and a freedom like his will be ours in proportion as we are filled with his spirit. Sevens. This celestial principle of love is really the only one in which we can perceive the possibility of a reciprocation between our God and ourselves. If we rest upon God by faith, yet he cannot rest upon us; if we pour ourselves upon him in gratitude, yet he cannot return gratitude to us; if we approach him in fear, yet he cannot fear his creatures—but in love alone our God and we are fitted to combine! there alone the human and the Divine nature are one! “We love him, because he first loved us”—“I love them that love me.” W. A. B.—Faith works not by the constraining force of law, but by the energizing force of love. This is the fulfilling of the Law: love sums it up in one sentence, simple, comprehensive, complete. The fruit of this spiritual obedience is seen in all that makes society endurable, home blessed, and life beautiful—in all that gives hope to the world through the coming-in of the kingdom of God. J. P. T. # How can we Love God? The problem being, How is human love to such a being as God possible? the simple answer is, we love God by loving Christ. That which we love in Jesus Christ is the lineaments of his spiritual nature, the virtues and graces of his inner life, as manifested by his words, his works, and his sufferings. The Gospel narrative is a record of them, and as we read we love. The picture is formed in our mind, and rises before us; but it is a moral image, and the sum of the traits is holiness. Now, these spiritual attractions, though manifested to us through a human soul, are nevertheless Divine; because divinity shines through that manhood. The Godhead, yea, the whole undivided Godhead, has its union there with human nature. Nowhere else in the universe is so much of God presented for our adoration as in the Lord Jesus Christ. The constitution of this adorable person was for the very purpose of manifesting God. We behold more of God in the face of Christ than elsewhere in all the universe. Is not the question answered, then? When we love Christ we love God. We cannot in any way so intelligently love God as when we love Christ. And therefore we need not be afraid to let our thoughts and powers go out with all their fulness toward the Son; we need not be apprehensive lest we defraud the Father of his glory. In loving him, we are performing our great duty to God. J. W. A.—Take Christ in all his fulness, not as God merely, not as man merely; not in his life on earth only, not in his death only, not in his exaltation at God’s right hand only, but in all his fulness, the Christ of God, God and Man, our Prophet, our Priest, our King and Lord, redeeming us by his blood, sanctifying us by his Spirit; and then worship him and love him with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the strength; and we shall see how all evil will be barred, and all good will abound. Arnold. Love an Unending Obligation. God is infinitely amiable and perfect; and what does he require of his creatures but that they should love him with all the soul, strength, and heart which he hath given them? Can this ever cease to be an obligation? What should make it cease? Nothing but that God should become less amiable, that his perfection should fade, his goodness be exhausted, or his greatness impaired. On the other hand, what is it that he threatens to those who withdraw their hearts from him? Is it not the loss of his favor and friendship? Can either the obligation or penalty be accused of severity? Surely in this God does nothing unbecoming a wise and righteous governor. Nay, with reverence be it said, he could not do otherwise without denying himself. R. W. Lev. 19:18. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. What every man’s mind ought to be toward his neighbor could not be better expressed in many pages than in this one sentence. We are all of us not only inclined to love ourselves more than we should, but all our powers hurry us away in this direction. Naturally, we are blinded by our immoderate self-love; and God, in order to turn us away from this, has substituted our neighbors, whom we are to love no less than ourselves; nor will any one ever perform what Paul teaches us to be a part of charity—viz., that she “seeketh not her own,” until he shall have renounced himself. Not only those with whom we have some connection are called our neighbors, but all without exception; for the whole human race forms one body, of which all are members. Cale. In our duties to others the Law is that we shall love our neighbor as ourselves. For ourselves, we are to regard our own rights, to supply our wants, and to perfect and direct our powers. If, then, we would love our fellow-men as we do ourselves, we must (1) Regard, and, if necessary, aid in securing their rights. (2) Supply their wants. (3) Do what we can to perfect and direct their powers. These will include, and in their order as lower and higher, all our duties to our fellow-men. M. H. The love of our neighbor as ourselves regards each man as possessing the same sacred character which we personally possess, and thus makes us jealous for our neighbor's rights and welfare. And this sacred character is only found in the image of God which we bear, so that the whole of the Law has one grand foundation, reverence for God. This principle, and not any philosophical speculation about natural rights, is the root of the entire Ten Commandments. So we see in fact that a morality based on natural rights is always a failure, both from the vague definitions of natural rights and the ease with which human lust or ambition will resist and overcome such a motive, while a morality based on regard for God, a reverential love for his holy name, is never a failure. This is a religious morality, the only one to be trusted. The whole formula, then, of the Law, as seen through the Gospel, is this: "Love God, and love man for God's sake, through Jesus Christ, the God-man." Crosby. The neighbor-love which can be enjoined as a duty must imply choice. It must be something over which conscience and the will have power. It can neither be an instinctive feeling of delight in the loved person's presence nor an unreasoning attachment based on subtle affinities of temperament. It needs to rest upon the consciousness of a deeper unity than springs from mere identity of tastes; and it expresses itself not in terms or gestures of endearment, but in a settled purpose to do all the good one can to the object loved. It implies, therefore, a moral resolution which will often act contrary to instinct or inclination. It implies a moral earnestness in seeking the welfare of its object which is not to be turned aside even by his unloveliness or repulsiveness. In a word, it is a settled purpose to care for and benefit man as man, for the sake of that manhood which is common to us all; not a fondness for this or that particular person on account of something lovable which I find in him. And this neighbor-love, this principle of a concern for the good of others not second to the care we expend upon our own, is one which had its birth on the soil of God's revelation, and came to its maturity only within the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour. Originally the rule stands on [this] Old Testament page as a revelation from heaven; but it stood there for centuries, a revelation unappreciated, till in the mission of God's Son to save mankind, it received the illumination of a heavenly example. Then it became plain how God himself understood love—neighbor-love—love for mankind. Then a pure unselfish devotion to the interests of humanity, apart from preference, sentiment, instinct, or unreasoning fondness—such devotion as prompts active compassion for misery, patient forbearance with evil, forgiveness of wrongs, and self-sacrifice to rescue the lost—received its earliest and supreme illustration. Then men learned for the first time what God in his Law had asked for at men's hands, but hitherto had asked for in vain. In the strong words of one who drank as deep as any of the new wine from heaven, then was "love" itself made apparent. "Herein is love," such love as fulfils the Law, "that he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." If, therefore, you would know what love for your neighbor means, learn it here. If you would feel such love for your neighbor, kindle your torch at this sun. "If we love one another, then is God's own love perfected in us." It is no growth of nature; no instinct of the fallen heart; no sentiment born of the imagination in tender enthusiasts. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Nay, it is the fruit of the Spirit, the most characteristic of all and the most excellent of all; first of all strong and abiding graces of the Divine nature, wrought in every one who is begotten of God, and hath the strong Son of God abiding in him. . . . You cannot dream yourself into this as into an imaginative attachment to ideal humanity. It is of too masculine fibre for that, and asks for too much undemonstrative and unattractive service at our hands. Neither does it fly abroad for picturesque objects on which to lavish its enthusiasm, but finds its needy neighbors at its very door, and girds itself to serve them with a girdle of humanity. This genuine Christian concern for one's neighbors can be shown everywhere—at home, in business, behind the counter, as well as in the mission-room or the hospital ward, or the squalid cellar of the pauper. It means simply a universal respect for every man's rights, a care for every man's interest, a willingness to be every man's equal, brother, and, if need be, servant, for Christ's sake who loved us all and gave himself for all. Dykes. This is the marvellous point about love, that all other good things have evils yoked with them; but love is free from every such mischief. He who loves will guard his soul from envy and anger, from jealousy and arrogance, from vain-glory and evil desire, from every unhallowed love, and every moral disorder. He will be as far from doing any evil to his neighbors as any other man from doing evil to himself. Consider how vast a blessing is the mere act of loving; how much cheerfulness it produces, in how great grace it establishes the soul. Yea, love changes the nature of things, and appears with all blessings in her hands, gentler than any mother, wealthier than any queen, and makes difficult things light, rendering virtue easy and vice most bitter. Hence it is that Paul says that love is the mother of all good things, and prefers it to miracles and all other gifts. We seek for no other indication of sovereignty if we see the purple and the diadem. So when a man wears the diadem of love, that is enough to point out the thorough disciple of Christ, not to us only, but also to the unbeliever. For, says he, "by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." So that this sign is greater than all signs, since by means of it the disciple is recognized. Chrysostom. Christ said: Love is the fulfilling of the Law. Christ found men working their passage to heaven by keeping the Divine commandments, and the one hundred and ten others which they had manufactured. Christ told them that if they loved they would do these things. If a man loved he would do the thing which the Law required. He would not have any desire to do anything different. Paul had learned this, and so in the thirteenth chapter of 1 Cor. we have the summum bonum. Paul takes this up in three ways in the chapter. He contrasts it, analyzes it, and diffuses it. It is contrasted with the things men loved in those days. Love is greater than faith, because the end is greater. We have faith in order that we may love. Charity is but a part of love, and the whole is greater than a part. Love is greater than sacrifice and martyrdom. We find by analysis that love is a compound thing like light. As a man takes a prism and lets the light show through it and the light is broken and separated into elements, so we can analyze love and get the spectrum and elements of it. And by it we get common names representing ordinary virtues which can be practised by all. The nine names, colors of the spectrum of love, are: Patience, kindness, generosity, humility, courtesy, unselfishness, good temper, guilelessness, and sincerity. These constitute the supreme gift—the stature of the perfect man. They relate to man to-day, not to-morrow or in eternity. Patience, "love suffereth long," represents love as passive, waiting to begin. Kindness represents love as active. Christ's time was largely taken up in making people happy. There is but one greater thing than happiness, and that is holiness, which is not in our keeping, so the greatest thing we can do is kindness. After these things have been done we must go back into the shade. Generosity is a part of love. Love is not puffed up, which shows that we must have humility. Love does not behave itself unseemly. Politeness has been described as love in little things. "Love seeketh not her own," and therefore is unselfish. A man prides himself on standing up for his rights, but he should give up his own if necessary. There is no happiness in having or in getting, but in giving and in serving others. He that would be great, let him serve, and he that would be happy, let him give. Love is not easily provoked, and a good temper is requisite. It is commonly spoken of as if a bad temper is an infirmity or a misfortune, but it is not a thing to smile at. It is a blot on our otherwise perfect life. It is the blackest sin and is a symbol of a want of love at the bottom. It shows that he must go to the root and smother his whole nature. How can a man with this lack of love enter the kingdom? Guilelessness is love which thinketh no evil. Courtesy is love in society, good temper is love restraining, guilelessness is love believing, and sincerity, love learning. Guilelessness is the virtue for suspicious people. Love does not rejoice in this or that issue, but in the truth. The great business of all is to fit these things into character. You must learn to love. There is a great opportunity of loving. How does a man become a good artist, or a good foot-ball player, or a good sculptor—by practice. How does a man become a good man—by practice. We do not train the soul by a different method than the body. Love is not emotion and gush; it is robust, and robustness is only secured by practice. Do not be annoyed at the obstacles that you find in your work. It is God's method of training you, and every stroke is making your nature better. . . . How do you learn to love? Love is governed by the law of cause and effect. If we fulfil the condition we get the results. "We love him because he first loved us." Because he first loved us we love all men. Stand before him and you will be changed into his image. Look at the great sacrifices of Christ and his life of love and you must love. Drummond. Love is the grand principle on which God intends to bind all worlds in harmony. In his government, God intends that this principle shall have the ascendancy and shall rule. It will bind the most lofty spirit of the skies to his throne, and the most humble among the saints on earth—like the mighty law which binds planets in their orbits, and which bids the floating particle of dust to seek the centre. Had this love been always shown, there would have been no sin, no crime, no war, no death. Barnes.—And as love is the fulfilling of all law, so it is the end of life itself. Whether in the calm of a quiet life or amid the turbulence of trying scenes, so long as the Divine Law of love is obeyed happiness is an ever-abiding guest. The heart filled with the double love, that of God and one's fellow-man, preserves its whiteness; and he who keeps that in this world need have no fear of losing it in any other. An.—When all things have passed away love remaineth. Covet that and give your life for it, and you have the character which Paul describes, you are created in God's image. Why do you want to live to-morrow? Because you love some one. There is no other thing to live for but love. To live is to love. If love dies a man has no contract with life, no reason to live, and he dies—by his own hand. No greater misfortune can befall a man than to grow old unloving and unloved. The final religious test at the great assizes is not how I have lived, but how I have loved. Prof. Drummond. MORAL LAW: TO BE LAID UP IN THEIR HEARTS, AND TAUGHT DILIGENTLY TO THEIR CHILDREN. PHYLACTERIES, INSCRIPTIONS UPON DOOR-POSTS, AND FRINGES, AS REMINDERS OF GOD'S WORDS. De. 4 44 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: these are the 45 testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgements, which Moses spake unto the children of 46 Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt; beyond Jordan, in the valley over against Beth- peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the 47 children of Israel smote, when they came forth out of Egypt: and they took his land in posses- sion, and the land of Og king of Ba-han, the two kings of the Amorites, which were beyond 48 Jordan toward the sunrising; from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, even 49 unto mount Sion (the same is Hermon), and all the Arabah beyond Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah. 5 1 And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the judgements which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to 2 do them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD made not this 3 covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. Ye 32 shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn 33 aside to the right hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may pro- long your days in the land which ye shall possess. 6 1 Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgements, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to pos- 2 sess it: that thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his command- ments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; 3 and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD, the God of thy fathers, hath promised unto thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 10. And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land which he swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee; great and goodly cities, which 11 thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and cisterns hewn out, which thou hewedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not, and 12 thou shalt eat and be full; then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth 13 out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; 14 and him shalt thou serve, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of 15 the gods of the peoples which are round about you; for the LORD thy God in the midst of thee is a jealous God; lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee from off the face of the earth. 16. Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. Ye shall diligently 17 keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which 18 he hath commanded thee. And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land 19 which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, to thrust out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken. 7 1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and 2 mightier than thou; and when the LORD thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with 3 them, nor shew mercy unto them: neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daugh- 4 ter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For he will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger 5 of the LORD be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly. But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down 6 their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, 7 above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of 8 all peoples: but because the LORD loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed 9 you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God; the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the judgements, which I command thee this day, to do them. 12 And it shall come to pass, because ye hearken to these judgements, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep with thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground, thy corn and thy wine and thine oil, the increase of thy kine and the young of thy flock, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee, but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. And thou shalt consume all the peoples which the LORD thy God shall deliver unto thee; thine eye shall not pity them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee. If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? thou shalt not be afraid of them: thou shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou art afraid. Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves, perish from before thee. 21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is in the midst of thee, a great God and a terrible. And the LORD thy God will cast out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. But the LORD thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and shall discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt make their name to perish from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God: and thou shalt not bring an abomination into thine house, and become a devoted thing like unto it: thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing. Moses did not deliver all that is contained in this book in one continued speech. After the preface (four chapters) it is to be supposed that he dismissed the people to consider what he had said. Some time after he reassembled them, to put them in mind of the laws which he so earnestly pressed them to observe. Patrick.—The second discourse contains a recapitulation, with some modifications and additions, of the Law already given on Mount Sinai. Yet it is not bare recapitulation, or naked enactment, but every word shows the heart of the lawgiver full at once of zeal for God and of the most fervent desire for the welfare of his nation. It is the Father no less than the Legislator who speaks. And while obedience and life are throughout bound up together, it is the obedience of a loving heart, not a service of formal constraint, which is the burden of his exhortations. P. S. 4: 44-49. This second address is introduced by a general notice of what is to form the subject of it—viz., the Law, with a more especial description of that in its different parts, as conconsisting of ordinances, statutes, and rights; together with a reference to the place and time when this address was delivered. W. L. A.—A statement manifestly introductory to the discourse of the succeeding chapters. Moses is about to declare the “testimonies,” what comes forth from God to indicate his will; and the “statutes,” the defined duties of moral obligation; and the “judgments,” or mutual rights of men. The conditions of his speech are here detailed. Ebgar. These verses introduce the main body of laws in this book, just as ch. 29:1 marks their close, and their relation to God’s earlier messages. They leave no alternative open, except the admission of the genuineness and Mosaic origin of the record or else the charge of a very carefully planned and most deliberate forgery. The twenty-four chapters that follow must be the Law of God by the hand of his servant Moses, or a gigantic falsehood from first to last. And yet they contain, along with the Decalogue, the three texts by which the Son of God repelled and overcame the temptations of Satan, and that first and great commandment which his lips have singled out from the whole Word of God as pre-eminently Divine. Our Lord's own question is thus unanswerable: "If ye believe not his writings, how can ye believe my words?" The whole passage before us has a kind of legal precision, fixing exactly the time and place when and where this crowning portion of God's Law was given to his people. The comment, "beyond Jordan toward the sun-rising," and the name Sion given to Mount Hermon here only, are further signs that the words were penned on the eastern side of the river, before the name Hermon, dating from the conquest, had superseded other and earlier names. Birks. 5 : 1-3. Moses reminds them of the making of the covenant at Horeb, and of the revelation of the fundamental law of the covenant there. As he was about to recapitulate the laws which God their King had enacted, it was fitting that he should refer at the outset to that covenant relation between Jehovah and Israel on which all the injunctions of the Law rested. W. L. A. 6 : 1-3. Moses exhorts, entreats, wrestles with men, that they may be wise and good; there is nothing wanting that is suggestive of ripeness of experience, depth and genuineness of sympathy. Moses becomes shepherd again, only now men and women and children, more wayward than any beasts of the earth, constitute his multitudinous and most trying flock. Mark, though the fire of his eye is not dimmed, the growth of the man in the softening of his voice, in his pastoral solicitude for the salvation of Israel. These chapters of Deuteronomy are full of exhortation and expostulation. 3. Whoever observes and does the commandments of God shall enter into largeness of blessing and immeasurable depth of holy contentment. No man can do right in order that it may be well with him, but no man can do right without its being consequentially well with every faculty of his mind, every emotion of his spirit, every outgoing of his life. Moses is already preaching the Sermon upon the Mount according to the measure of the light which made up his ancient day. What is he now doing but saying, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you"? "Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do the commandment of God; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily." Our business is with the "hearing" and the "observing," and God's business is with the result of blessing. J. P.—The forms in which the rewards of loyalty to God will show themselves are very varied. The individual will find that godliness has "promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." The family will find that "he blesseth the habitation of the just." The city will find that the keeping of God's commandments is among the things "which belong unto its peace." And "the righteous nation which keepeth the truth" will find that "salvation doth God appoint for walls and bulwarks." Mercifully meeting us on the low ground on which we too frequently stand in looking out for profit, God would raise us up to the higher platform of a pure, self-abandoning self-forgetfulness and love, in which we are content to be nothing, that God may be all in all. C. C. 10-12. The Israelites were on the point of quitting a nomad life, in which they had lived in a great degree aloof from other nations, for a fixed and settled abode in the midst of them; were exchanging a condition of comparative poverty, in which they possessed nothing except what they carried, for "great and goodly cities, houses full of all good things," etc. There was then before them a double danger; that namely of a God-forgetting worldliness, and that of a false tolerance of the idolatries practised by those about to become their neighbors. The former error Moses strives to guard against in the verses before us. Espin. 12. Beware, lest thou forget the Lord.** The enjoyment of the good things of this life which God gives is accompanied with the danger of forgetting him, and of clinging to the gods of nature, as has been the case with many heathen people. The remembrance of God's benefits and chastisements and of his interference in their history, was to serve to the people of Israel to counterbalance this danger. Gerl.—We are born into the possession of riches. The poorest man in the land is an inheritor of all but infinite wealth, in every department of civilization. Men to-day enjoy the liberty for which other men paid their lives. Coming into a civilization so ripe and rich, having everything made ready to our hands, the whole system of society telephoned so that we can communicate with distant friends and bring them within hearing, the table loaded with everything which a healthy appetite can desire—all these things constitute a temptation, if not rightly received. Moses drew the picture, and then said—"Beware." In the time of prosperity, and fulness, and overflow—"then beware lest thou forget the Lord" Ever hear this word of caution—"beware." When the harvest is the best harvest that ever was grown in our fields, then—“beware.” When health is long-continued and the doctor a stranger in the house, then—“beware.” When house is added to house and land to land, then—“beware.” J. P. 13. In the Old Testament piety is frequently named the fear of the Lord; perhaps as frequently as in the New Testament it is named love. Not that either is peculiar to these parts of Scripture respectively; but good men are oftenest spoken of in the Old Testament as fearing, and in the New Testament as loving. Good men loved God then, and good men fear him now; but Old Testament love was much like fear, and New Testament fear is much like love. Abraham and Moses fear while they draw near in filial belief; but John, while he reverences, rests upon the very bosom of his God. J. W. A. 15. By the help of natural reason we may know there is a God, the first cause and original of all things; but his essence, attributes, and will cannot be discerned by us but through faith in his Divine revelation. He that walks without this light walks in darkness, though he may strike out some faint and glimmering sparkles of his own. And he that, out of the gross and wooden dictates of his natural reason, carves out a religion to himself, is but a more refined idolater than those who worship stocks and stones, hammering an idol out of his fancy and adoring the works of his own imagination. For this reason God is nowhere said to be jealous, but upon the account of his worship, Bunyan. 18,19. Whether our earthly circumstances are helps or hindrances to us Godward will depend much more on what we bring to them than on what they bring to us. And however, on the side of this life, things may favor us and circumstances befriend, it is only as they help us to serve God better that they are really blessings to us; it is “well” with us only when God is well pleased with us. So much stress did Moses attach to the maintenance of unswerving loyalty to God, that he intimates that the possession of the land is secured to them only so far as they are true to their great Deliverer. C. C. 7: 1-4. The Israelites were about to enter on a country occupied by idolaters, and they are commanded not to spare them or to allow them to continue in their proximity, or to have any friendly relations with them. The Lord would cast out these nations, and deliver them, though greater and mightier than they, into their hands; and they were to smite them and place them under the ban; they were to make no covenant with them nor form any alliances with them, lest they should thus be drawn into idolatry, and so the anger of the Lord be kindled against them, and his vengeance brought upon them. W. L. A. 1-11. Israel forewarned against a false toleration of idolatry. Commerce with the idolatrous nations among which they were about to live might easily render them dangerously familiar with superstitions and abominations, against which it was a primary purpose of the whole legislation to raise up a witness and a protest. Hence the stringency of the command given verses 2-5, and repeated verses 23-26, to excommunicate the idolatrous nations and all belonging to them, and to exterminate their degraded worship with all its appliances. The renewal of the promises in verses 12 sqq. is but set forth as supplying a motive for the more zealous and effectual execution of these duties; and thus the destruction of idolatry and idolaters within the sacred precincts of the chosen people appears as the leading topic of this part of Moses’ discourse. The words and phrases employed will be found parallel to various passages of the preceding books. Espin. 2. Utterly destroy them.** One of the chief reasons which made this destruction necessary was the consideration that if any of the old inhabitants were left they would prove a snare to those who succeeded them in the country; would draw and seduce them by degrees into the vices and corruptions which prevailed among themselves. Vices of all kinds, but vices especially of the licentious kind, are astonishingly infectious. Paley. 3,4. All care to prevent idolatry would probably have been useless, without prohibiting intermarriages; and putting a stop to such intercourse and entertainments as would have proved an occasion either of intermarriages or of familiarities no less dangerous. Lowman.—The people of these abominations must not be mingled with the holy seed, lest they corrupt them. Better that all these lives should be lost from the earth, than that religion and the true worship of God should be lost in Israel. Thus we must deal with lusts that war against our souls; God has delivered them into our hands by that promise, Sin shall not have dominion over you, unless it be your own fault; let not us then make covenants with them, or show them any mercy, but mortify and crucify them, and utterly destroy them. H. 5-8. They were not only to have no fellowship with the idolaters, but they were to root out their idolatry, everting their altars and destroying their idols; and this because they were a holy people, graciously chosen of God to be his special possession—a high privilege and honor which they were to be careful not to cast away. W. L. A. 7. Set his love upon you.** The Hebrew verb meaning primarily to cleave to, to be attached to, is used to express ardent and loving affection. The fewest of all people. It might have been supposed that, in choosing a people to be his special treasure, the Almighty would have selected some one of the great nations of the world; but, instead of that, he had chosen one of the smallest. They had, indeed, grown till now they were as the stars for multitude; but it was not in prospect of this that they were chosen. The election of Israel was purely of grace. W. L. A. 8. Because the Lord loved you.** Instead of saying, He hath chosen you out of love to your fathers, as in ch 4:37, Moses brings out in this place love to the people of Israel as the Divine motive, not for choosing Israel, but for leading it out and delivering it from the slave-house of Egypt, by which God had practically carried out the election of the people, that he might thereby allure the Israelites to a reciprocity of love. Keil.—The word love is an Old Testament word. The tenderest expressions ever used by heaven to earth are reported not in the New Testament, but in the Old. That the Lord loved Israel was shown by long-suffering, by hopeful patience, by pouring down blessing upon blessing, notwithstanding the ingratitude of the people. J. P.—The choice of Israel was with a view to their being a holy people and a special people unto the Lord. Electing love extended to a nation or a people is really a Divine investment. The result is the holiness and consecration of the people. It is this holiness, this sense of consecration, which proves the electing love of God. And this is all the more intense when it is seen clearly that God's love is manifested, not on the ground of national or personal merit, but as a matter of free grace. Edgar. 9. The faithful God.** We read of the living God, the mighty God, the glorious Lord God, and in the text of the faithful God. The Apostle Paul is fond of applying the word "faithful" to God and to Jesus Christ, thus: "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." "The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil." "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." The Apostle John, too, in a remarkable passage, avails himself of the same descriptive term: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." If God is faithful himself, he expects faithfulness in others. He praises faithfulness in those who have completed their course of life honorably: "Well done, good and faithful servant." He would see himself in others. J. P. Keepeth covenant. The tenor of the covenant into which they were taken; it was in short this, That as they were to God, so God would be to them. He is God, God indeed, God alone, the faithful God, able and ready not only to fulfil his own promises, but to answer all the just expectations of his worshippers, and he will certainly keep covenant and mercy—that is, "show mercy according to covenant, to them that love him and keep his commandments" (and in vain do we pretend to love him, if we do not make conscience of his commandments); "and this" (as is here added for the explication of the promise in the second commandment), "not only to thousands of persons, but to thousands of generations. So inexhaustible is the fountain, so constant the streams!" Just to his enemies, he repayeth them that hate him (verse 10). Wilful sinners are haters of God; for the carnal mind is enmity against him. Idolaters are so in a special manner, for they are in league with his rivals. H.—The "haters of God" or the disobedient were threatened with temporal calamities extending "to the third or fourth generation of their children;" but the "lovers of God" or the obedient, who should keep these his commandments, were encouraged by the promise that God would show mercy unto their children to the thousandth generation, or to the remotest ages. Thus the idolatries of the Jewish nation drew down on themselves and on their children the Babylonish captivity of seventy years, including the third and fourth generation of the offenders; while the righteous posterity of the true Israelites, in the regeneration will flourish till the end of the world. How infinitely does the goodness transcend the severity of God! Hales. 13-15. Godliness has promise of the life that now is. It naturally tends to prosperity. It condemns idleness, waste, dishonesty, and the whole series of vices which wreck health, squander property, and destroy confidence. Where religion prevails, men will be industrious, conscientious, orderly, and reliable. But, in addition to this natural tendency, there rests on the good man's lot what is distinctively spoken of as the Divine blessing. This will mingle itself with all he has and with all he does. It gives him favor in the eyes of men. It opens up his way for him (Ps. 37 : 5). It protects him from injury (Ps. 37 : 33, 39). It overrules all events and influences, so that they work for his good. This is forcibly illustrated in the text, where blessing is represented as descending on the home, on the products of the land, on flocks and herds, and on the bodily life. The counterpart of the blessing is the curse (verse 15). The wicked often prosper, but it is prosperity unblessed and unenduring. Orr. 18-24. From verses 18 to 24 we have the cheering voice of the great lawgiver, grandly uttering, in his hundred and twentieth year, words to empower the heart, and showing Israel, in the name of the Lord of hosts, how much more there is to animate them than there can possibly be to discourage and depress. He reminds them no fewer than eight times of the name of the Lord their God; bids them look back to past miracles and wonders, and to see in them pledges of future help; shows them how the providential action of God, which was for them, would be against their foes; assures them that God would be among them as an ever-present Helper and Friend; and points out that, though the process of driving out the Canaanites might be slow, yet if it were done more rapidly, it would be attended with great peril from other and unexpected quarters; that both tribes of men and herds of beasts would be kept in abeyance for their sakes; so that, though they were led by a tedious route, it would be the safest way! The whole passage is full of interest and instruction for our every-day life. C. C. 23-25. They did not execute his sentence by their own power. Their commission ran, "The Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction. And he shall deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven," etc. It is very evident, therefore, that the Israelites could not have been actuated by any of the motives that usually actuate men in war. At every step they were made to feel that their only hope was in humble reliance upon Divine promises and obedience to the Divine commands. There was no temptation to avarice, for they were to take no spoil, but utterly to destroy everything captured. They could not be animated by feelings of vengeance, for the idea kept ever before their minds as the reason for the destruction is that it is the base and hateful idolatry that is to be destroyed. The Law, indeed, required even a Hebrew city to be utterly exterminated when given up thus to idolatry, just as a Canaanitish city. In short, it is evident that the reason for choosing Israel as the instrument for inflicting judgment was that Israel itself should be thoroughly estranged from idolatry and the seductions of false religion. It was with a view to put an impassable gulf between them and the idolatrous nations. S. R. 24. The depraved state of the morals of the Canaanites is too notorious to require any proof. They were a wicked people in the time of Abraham, and even then were devoted by God to destruction; but "their iniquity was not then full." In the time of Moses they were idolaters; sacrificers of their own infants; devourers of human flesh; addicted to unnatural lust; immersed in the filthiness of all manner of vice. It was agreeable to God's moral justice to exterminate so wicked a people. He made the Israelites the executors of his vengeance; and in doing this he gave such an evident and terrible proof of his abomination of vice as could not fail to strike the surrounding nations with astonishment and terror, and to impress on the minds of the Israelites what they were to expect if they followed the example of the nations whom he commanded them to cut off. The conduct of Moses toward the Canaanites would have been wrong had he acted by his own authority alone; but it were as reasonable to attribute cruelty and murder to the judge of the land in condemning criminals to death, as to condemn the conduct of Moses in executing the command of God. Bp. Watson. 25. Whatsoever had been employed in idolatrous worship was so detestable to the Divine majesty, that he would not have it converted to any ordinary use, but utterly destroyed; therefore he commanded them not to bring any of the silver and gold which had belonged to idols, which he calls an "abomination," into their houses to be employed for any private use whatsoever. If a man did, he became "an accursed thing;" that is, was devoted to destruction, as the thing itself was. This appeared afterward in the example of Achan (Josh. 7), who took a wedge of gold and a Babylonish garment for his own private use when it had been "accursed" by God's express command, and therefore was stoned to death. Bp. Patrick. 26. Speaking of heathen abomination, Moses says, "Thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it." There is no middle feeling; there is no intermediate way of dealing with bad things. "If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off; "if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out." "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." Thus the Testaments are one; the moral tone is the same; the stern law never yields to time—its phrase changes, its words may come and go, its forms may take upon them the color of the transient times, but the inner spirit of righteousness is the Spirit of God, without beginning, without measure, without end. J. P. SECOND PARTING ADDRESS (CONTINUED): REMEMBRANCE OF JEHOVAH'S WILDERNESS DEALINGS, AND PROSPECT OF THE GOODLY CANAAN INHERITANCE PRESSED AS MOTIVES TO OBEDIENT SERVICE. WARNING AGAINST FORGETFULNESS OF GOD AND PRIDE OF HEART. De. § 1 ALL the commandment which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every thing that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. And thou shalt consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. And thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, springing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of oil olives and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. And thou shalt eat and be full, and thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. Beware lest thou forget the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgements, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not; that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end: and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as at this day. And it shall be, if thou shalt forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD maketh to perish before you, so shall ye perish; because ye would not hearken unto the voice of the LORD your God. 1-6. That they might be induced the more faithfully to observe all the commandments which had been enjoined upon them so as to go on and prosper, they are called to remember the experiences of the forty years in the wilderness, when God guided them and disciplined them for their good. He humbled them that he might test the state of their heart and affections toward him, using the distress and privations to which they were subjected as means of bringing out what was in them, and of leading them to feel their entire dependence on him for help, sustenance, and guidance. Not only by commands difficult to be obeyed laid on men, and by mighty works done in their view, does God prove men; but also by afflictions and calamities, as well as by benefits. Humbled so as to see his own weakness, chastised out of all self-conceit by affliction, man is brought to submit to God, to hear and obey him; and along with this the experience of God's goodness tends to draw men, in grateful acknowledgment of his mercy and bounty, to yield themselves to him and sincerely and lovingly to serve him. W. L. A. Their great thanksgiving festivals; their numerous thank-offerings; their vows; their required tithes—all concur in this one idea—the recognition of God as the Giver of all blessings, their great personal and national Benefactor. No pains was spared to impress and enforce this great truth. The long course of God's redeeming mercies toward their nation; the rescue from Egyptian bondage; the miraculous supplies of bread and water forty years in the desert; the gift of the goodly land of Canaan—these were the staple facts of their history which God sought to engrave upon the national heart and to work into the living thought of the thousands of Israel. By every hopeful appliance their religious system was shaped to keep alive and intensify these feelings. H. C. 2. 3. While the whole period of the wilderness-life was strewed with tokens of goodness from the hand of God, by which he sought to draw and allure the people to himself, it was also the period emphatically of temptation and trial, by which the Lord sought to winnow and sift their hearts into a state of meekness for the inheritance. Hence these words of Moses: "Thou shalt remember all the way by which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or not. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man liveth not by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord." This alternating process of want and supply, of great and appalling danger, ever ready to be met by sudden and extraordinary relief, was the grand testing process in their history, by which the latent evil in their hearts was brought fully to light that it might be condemned and purged out, and by which they were formed to that humble reliance on God's arm and single-hearted devotedness to his fear, which alone could prepare them for taking possession of and permanently occupying the promised land. It proved in the issue too severe for by far the greater portion of the original congregation. But for those who did enter and their posterity to latest generations, it was of the greatest moment to have kept perpetually alive upon their minds the peculiar dealing of God during that transition period of their history, in order to their clearly realizing the connection between their continued enjoyment of the land, and the refined and elevated state of faith and love and of firm devoted purpose, to which the training in the wilderness conducted. P. F. That the Israelites might be proved, purified, and bound more and more closely to God by the bands of love, of confidence, and of gratitude; that they might be delivered from the broken, cowardly spirit which had been engendered by a long-continued slavery, and strengthened till they grew into a free, spirited, and courageous race—Jehovah led his chosen people through the desert. There, amid the troubles and calamities, the dangers and privations of a desert life, they were to receive continual proofs of the mercy and faithfulness of Jehovah on the one hand, and of their own unworthiness and natural obduracy on the other. But what was to have been only a brief period of trial, according to the original design and intention of God, became, on account of the guilt of the people and the judgment of Jehovah, a long period of detention and purification. Instead of the two years' sojourn in the desert, which would have sufficed for the original purposes, forty years were required to answer the new ends which had to be accomplished now. Thus the period spent in the wilderness was at the same time one of education and discipline, of trial and temptation, of punishment and purification. K. 3. "Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" is a Hebrew phrase to express "everything that God appoints" or "arranges." It assumes that every appointment of God is wise and loving; and asserts accordingly that a man's life, that which is his genuine and abiding life and happiness, cannot consist in opposing such appointments of his Father, or in trying to get free from them as from chains and fetters; but must consist in a meek acquiescence in them, in meeting and sympathizing with a Father's will as revealed in them, and thus by the inner chemistry of love converting them into food wherewith to nourish the life of the spirit. With such life as this in God, the God of grace and of Providence, the Governor of the world, the wise and loving Disposer of all things, no man can ever be in any wilderness where life cannot be found, for God himself, our life, is there! The universe thus becomes an Eden to his child! God has so adjusted all circumstances with reference to him as a well-beloved son in Christ, that all things appointed must prove the means of perfecting his higher nature, enabling him to bring forth more fruit to his glory. N. McLeod. 4. The good providence of God took care that the Israelites in the wilderness never wanted raiment. They were supplied partly by the flocks and the materials which they brought out of Egypt, and partly by the Arabs, Ishmaelites, and neighboring people: so that they had change of apparel when they stood in need of it, and were not obliged to go barefoot, ragged, and half-naked for want of clothes. God so ordered the course of things, that they obtained whatsoever was needful by natural means, or, if they failed, by a miraculous interposition. Jortin.—Ordinary supplies must not be shut out of consideration, as regards the raiment of the chosen people, as they cannot in the similar question regarding their victual. It may have been that these natural sources were on occasions supplemented by extraordinary providences of God, as was undoubtedly the case with their food. Espin.—As the manna furnished by God's creative power saved them from hunger, so by God's providence and care their raiment was marvellously kept from decay, and they had not to go barefoot from their sandals being worn out. At the same time, there is no reason to suppose that the Israelites did not make use of such supplies as were within their reach for purposes of clothing, any more than that they lived only on manna during the forty years of their wandering. W. L. A. 5. As a man chasteneth his son. All the afflictions which God had sent upon them, he would have them think were not for their destruction but for their correction and amendment: and therefore they ought to be thankfully acknowledged, as well as his benefits. Patrick.—God educated, disciplined, and trained his people as a father does his child. The idea is not so much that of chastisement, properly so called, as that of severe discipline and training. God made them feel his hand upon them, but ever for their good; the end of the discipline to which they were subjected was that they might keep his commandments and walk in his ways, so as to enjoy his favor. W. L. A.—That which may be said of them holds good, in this respect, of the life-story of God's children now. Two words would sum up the pith of their experience—"redemption," "training." Redeemed first, trained afterward. Redeemed, that they might be trained; trained, that they might become worthy of the redemption. Both the redemption and the training had in Israel's case a depth of meaning of which the people knew little at the time, but which Israel's God intended from the first. C. C. Let it be deeply graven on our minds that all God's dealing with us, from regeneration onward, is a discipline, a moulding, a training, an education. This is sought by all convictions, all applications of truth, all mercies, all chastisements. His purpose is to render us holy, to raise us to the perfection of our being, and to make us partakers of a Divine nature. The work has commenced, and will never cease. "He that hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of redemption." The great thing is the spiritual work of the Holy Ghost upon the mind and heart, begun here, and completed, or rather carried ever onward hereafter. All things are subsidiary to this. Whatever relates to our bodies, our friends, our circumstances, our temporal weal or woe, our gladness or our tears, whatever is passing and external, is subordinate to this great end; and we miss the true point of our expectations from God when we anxiously look to him for anything short of being made "partakers of his holiness." J. W. A. The Scriptures instruct us that all things are directed by God; that men are his children; and that he guides all events with a paternal hand. Thus the aspect of things is quite changed to them that obey the Gospel. That one feature in the case—that trials and afflictions are chastisements, that they spring not from the dust, that they rise not from chance nor from the passions of men, nor from creatures except as instruments; but that they are all previously ordered, inflicted with design, measured by wisdom, controlled by power, made subservient to holiness—this one feature alters the whole case: all wears a new and different aspect. The Christian knows that all afflictions are part of the paternal discipline which God exercises in his family, and distinct from those acts of justice by which he appears as the governor of the world and the avenger of his enemies. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Let none when under affliction think that they are under God's anger, so as to have lost his favor and forfeited the complacency of their Heavenly Father. We should, indeed, examine ourselves to see if there be any reason for particular calamities, from our peculiar delinquencies in duty or from corruptions which we have indulged; and thus we should "turn unto him that smiteth us." But we should consider our trials as springing from love, as having their origin in our imperfect state of character, as made necessary by our sins. We should consider that they are sent to subdue in us the inclinations of "the old man," and to form in us Jesus Christ, in all his features of "righteousness and true holiness." To endure these afflictions and crosses, in some way or other, is an effect of necessity; but to endure them as a Christian is an act of grace. The Christian, convinced of the design of God in affliction, yields himself into his hands. R. Hall. 7-20. The land on which they were about to enter is described as a good land, fertile and well watered, and yielding abundant produce to its cultivators; and they are cautioned against forgetting, in their enjoyment of the gift, the bounty of the Giver, or congratulating themselves on having achieved the conquest of such a land, instead of gratefully acknowledging the grace which had sustained them during their protracted wandering in the wilderness, and by which alone they had been enabled to take possession of that favored land. W. L. A. 7-9. Moses enlarges now more frequently and more fully than before on the fertility and excellence of the promised land. This was natural; such a topic at an earlier period would have increased the murmurings and the impatience of the people at being detained in the wilderness; whereas now it encouraged them to encounter with more cheerfulness the opposition they must meet with from the inhabitants of Canaan. Graves.—These things are mentioned, to show the great difference between that wilderness through which God had led them and the good land into which he was bringing them; to show what obligations they lay under to keep God's commandments, both in gratitude for his favors to them and from a regard to their own interest, that the favors might be continued; and to show what a figure it was of good things to come. H. In these verses is implied a contrast, which in the parallel passage 11:10, 11 (next section) is expressed, between Palestine and Egypt. The latter depends entirely on its single river; without the Nile, and the utmost use of the waters of the Nile, Egypt would be a desert. But Palestine is well distinguished not merely as "a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates, of oil olive and honey," but emphatically as "a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of plains and mountains;" "not as the land of Egypt, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs," but a land of "mountains and plains which drinketh water of the rain of heaven." This mountainous character, this abundance of water both from natural springs and from the clouds of heaven, in contradistinction to the one uniform supply of the great river, this abundance of "milk" from its "cattle on a thousand hills," of "honey" from its forests and its thymy shrubs, was absolutely peculiar to Palestine among the civilized nations of the East E-quin. Palestine was an extremely fertile country, the glory of all lands in the richness of its soil. Moses distinctly so represents it; and his representation is confirmed by the testimony of Josephus, Tacitus, the great Arabian geographer Abulfeda, and the best modern travellers. The whole country was one vast and busy workshop of rural industry, abounding in all the productions of the tropical and temperate zones. It was cultivated like a garden. The sides of the mountains were terraced even to their summits, and the cold rocks were covered with soil by the hand of industry. No judgment can be formed of its pristine fertility, from the state to which it has been reduced by eighteen centuries of tyranny and devastation. Yet even now intelligent travellers represent the soil of Palestine as unusually rich and productive. E. C. W. Our ride for the last two days around the sources of the Jordan has reminded me of the words of Moses to the children of Israel in regard to this country: The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills. Certainly this is a good land. I have never seen a better; and none where the fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills are so numerous, so large, and so beautiful. And then remember that this is a climate almost tropical, where water is fertility and life, and the absence of it sterility and death, and the greatness of the blessing is vastly enhanced. The number of these fountains and depths is prodigious. We might go all through Palestine, on both sides of the Jordan, and enumerate hundreds of them—powerful fountains—the permanent sources of every river in the country. I have visited them often, and always with admiration and astonishment. Nor need we wonder that so much is made of them in the Bible: they are the glory and the life of the land. W. M. Thompson. 10. "When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God." From this place the Jews have made it a general rule, or, as they call it, an affirmative precept, that every one bless God at their meals—that is, give him thanks for his benefits; for he blesses us when he bestows good things on us, and we bless him when we thankfully acknowledge his goodness therein. Patrick. 14,17. “Beware lest then thy heart be lifted up.” When the estate rises, the mind is apt to rise with it, in self-conceit, self-complacency, and self-confidence. Therefore strive to keep the spirit low in a high condition; humility is both the ease and the ornament of prosperity. Take heed of saying, so much as in thy heart, that proud word, My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth (verse 17). We must never take the praise of our prosperity to ourselves nor attribute it to our ingenuity or industry; for bread is not always to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding (Eccl. 9:11). It is spiritual idolatry thus to sacrifice to our own net (Hab. 1:16). And “take heed of forgetting God.” This follows upon the lifting up of the heart; for it is through the pride of the countenance that the wicked seeks not after God (Ps. 10:4). Those that admire themselves, despise God. H. 16. To do thee good at thy latter end.** This is presented as the result of God’s dealings. The people had been suffered to hunger (verse 3) and fed with manna in order that God might prove them. This trial was not laid on them arbitrarily, but as a moral discipline qualifying for the blessings which God designed ultimately to bestow. The “humbling” and “proving” are exhibited as God’s immediate purpose—the “doing good” to Israel as the eventual issue. The expression “at thy latter end” conveys somewhat more than “at length,” “in future.” The settlement of Israel in Canaan was the end and climax of the Mosaic dispensation, to which the sojourn in Egypt, the wandering in the desert, and the arrangements of the Law all led up. “Thy latter end” is then the later, and for the purpose in hand, final epoch in the national life to which all that had gone before was preparatory and introductory. Espin. God’s discipline is meant to turn to our ultimate advantage. “To do thee good at thy latter end.” The immediate object of God’s discipline is to form character; to create and develop love, trust, and obedience; to uproot evil dispositions; to break down self-will and self-dependence. The ultimate end of it is the service and blessedness of heaven. There may be some service which God is preparing us for on earth, some possession he wishes to give us, some trust he is about to repose in us. But heaven is the goal, and the end of God’s discipline will not be fully seen until the goal is reached. Orr.—God does not say, Rise up and walk, and you shall come to a great desert; for if he did, we should never set out; but he says, Come to the rest! And when, in obedience and faith and hope, we have risen up and lost ourselves in the desert, then he lets us know that it was necessary, before we could come to the place of our rest, that he should lead us through the wilderness, to prove us and show us all that was in our hearts, and that without such disciplinary wanderings and discoveries, we never could come to the palace nor be fitted to go in at its gates. Cheever. If the grand assurance which Jesus Christ has given to his disciples is fulfilled, how happy shall we shortly be—happy, if we are his; with what delight shall we then look back on the way he has led us! How sweet it will be to retrace the mysterious operations of his Providence—the wonderful way in which God hath brought us all the journey through; all the trials and afflictions of this life so tempered and overruled that none could be spared, none could be wanting; they are all a part of the Divine mercy toward us; and not only do they not obstruct our felicity, but in the hand of the great Disposer they are made subservient to promoting it. “These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” And while common salvation produces a common song of praise, millions of glorious spirits will each have a separate song, each a separate theme—each one will have within him motives of gratitude which are peculiar to himself. Eternity will never cease to exhibit fresh occasions of wonder that he should be brought from danger and distress, and made an heir with God and joint-heir with Christ. R. Hall. 18. “Forget not God’s hand in thy present prosperity (verse 18), Remember, it is he that giveth the power to get wealth.” See here how God’s giving and our getting are reconciled, and apply it to spiritual wealth. It is our duty to get wisdom, and above all our gettings to get understanding; and yet it is God’s grace that gives wisdom, and when we have got it, we must not say, It was the might of our hand that got it, but must own it was God that gave us power to get it, and therefore to him we must give the praise, and consecrate the use of it. The blessing of the Lord on the hand of the diligent, makes rich both for this world and for the other. He giveth thee power to get wealth, not so much to gratify thee, and make thee easy, as that he may establish his covenant. All God's gifts are in pursuance of his promises. H.—A deep conviction of this fact would turn human history into a sacrament. Receive into the mind the full impression of this doctrine, and you will find yourself working side by side with God, in the field, the warehouse, the bank, the shop, the office, the pulpit. What a blow this text strikes at one of the most popular and mischievous fallacies in common life—namely, that man is the maker of his own money! Men who can see God in the creation of worlds cannot see him suggesting an idea in business, smiling on the plough, guiding the merchant's pen, and bringing summer into a brain long winter-bound and barren. J. P. 20. So shall ye perish.** It appears from various passages in Scripture that God's abhorrence and treatment of the crimes for which he destroyed the nations of Canaan were impartial, without distinction, and without respect of nations or persons. The Divine impartiality is pointed out by such words as these, in which Moses warns the Israelites against falling into any of the like wicked courses. The Jews are sometimes called the chosen and favored people of God; and in a certain sense and for some purposes they were so; yet is this very people, both in this and in other places, over and over again reminded that it they followed the same practices they must expect the same fate. Paing. Disobedience means penalty as certainly as obedience means reward. Men should never trifle with the idea of the punishment of sin; it is everlasting punishment; it is eternal penalty; it is an expression of the horror of God as his infinite holiness looks upon the abomination of sin. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." This is not a one-sided law; it is the impartial law which holds within its ample scope all that is terrible in the idea of perdition and all that is sublime in the promise of heaven. J. P. SECOND DISCOURSE (CONTINUED): ANOTHER WARNING AGAINST PRIDE AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS; REMINDED OF THEIR REPEATED REBELLIONS; URGED TO LOVE, OBEDIENCE, AND SERVICE, AS THE SCOPE AND SUM OF GOD'S REQUIREMENTS; PAST DELIVERANCES, AND FUTURE PROSPERITY IN CANAAN, AGAIN PRESENTED AS MOTIVES; A BLESSING AND A CURSE DEFINITELY SET BEFORE THEIR CHOICE. De. 9 1 HEAR, O Israel: thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations 2 greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, a people great and 3 tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak? Know therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee as a devouring fire; he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thee: so shalt thou drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as 4 the LORD hath spoken unto thee. Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath thrust them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: whereas for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive 5 them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go in to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may establish the word which the LORD 6 sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff- 7 necked people. Remember, forget thou not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou wentest forth out of the land of Egypt, until ye 8 came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD. Also in Horeb ye provoked 22 the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you. And at Taberah, 23 and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath. And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you: then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him 24 not, nor hearkened to his voice. Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you. 10 12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? Behold, unto the LORD thy God belongeth the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that therein is. Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as at this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. For the LORD your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward. He doth execute the judgement of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve; and to him shalt thou cleave, and by his name shalt thou swear. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude. 11 1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgements, and his commandments alway. And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, and his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day; and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came unto this place; and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel: but your eyes have seen all the great work of the LORD which he did. Therefore shall ye keep all the commandment which I command thee this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go over to possess it; and that ye may prolong your days upon the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: but the land, whither ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: a land which the LORD thy God careth for; the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. 13. And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it; to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall be your border. There shall no man be able to stand before you: the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath spoken unto you. 26. Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if ye shall hearken unto the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: and the 28 curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. 29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt set the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse 30 upon mount Ebal. Are they not beyond Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites which dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the 31 oaks of Moreh? For ye are to pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the 32 LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and the judgements which I set before you this day. Israel might acknowledge that it was of God's free gift that they possessed the land of Canaan, and yet might flatter themselves by thinking it was because of their righteousness and goodness that the gift was bestowed. To guard against this, Moses tells them that not because of their righteousness would God go before them and drive out the mighty peoples that then occupied the land, but because of the wickedness of these peoples themselves were they to be extirpated (ch. 9 : 1-6). He further reminds them of their transgressions in the past, and how they thereby came under the Divine displeasure, and were saved from destruction only through his earnest intercession (verses 7-24). W. L. A. 9 : 1-6. For no merit of their own but by the signal bounty of God they would be heirs of the land of Canaan; and this entirely flowed from the covenant and their gratuitous adoption. They therefore should persevere in the faithful observation of the covenant, and so should be the more disposed to honor him. Lest they should arrogate anything to themselves, he commends the greatness of God's power, in that they could not be victorious over so many nations unless by the miraculous aid of heaven. Calv. —It was of great moment, and therefore Moses repeats it, that they should understand the true causes why God expelled these nations and gave their land to the Israelites: (1) The abominable wickedness of the Canaanites, for which they deserved to be rooted out (2) God's gracious promises to the ancestors of the Israelites, with whom he had made a covenant and confirmed it with an oath, to plant them there in the room of the former inhabitants. Patrick. —There is scarcely any place in the Old Testament which is so utterly subversive of self-righteousness as this. As the ungodly are excluded from the heavenly inheritance by reason of their sins and the righteous are made partakers of it, even so was it to be the case in reference to Canaan. The free grace of the Lord chose the fathers and brought out all the good that was in Israel; but yet it was not this goodness for which the people were preserved, since they had a hundred times perverted all God's gifts of grace. Gerl. 7,8,22,23. Moses points his admonition by reminding them of their repeated rebellions in past times, and dwells especially on their apostasy at Horeb. This was so flagrant that it was only his own earnest intercessions which averted the destruction of the people, and won at length from God a renewal of the forfeited pledges of the covenant. In referring to these circumstances Moses here, as elsewhere, has regard not so much to the order of time as to that of subject. He inserts e.g. mention of the provocations at Taberah, Massah, Kibroth-hat-taavah, and Kadesh-barnea (verses 22, 23), in the very midst of the narrative respecting the idolatry at Horeb and his own conduct in reference thereto. 10 : 12-22; 11 : 1-26. After these emphatic warnings against self-righteousness this division of the discourse is drawn to a conclusion in the next two chapters by a series of direct and positive exhortations to a careful fulfilment of the duties prescribed in the first two of the ten words. Pride having been shown to be utterly out of place in those who had so often provoked God, and who owed their all to God's forgiveness and Moses's entreaties, it remains for Israel to make such return as is possible for God's undeserved mercies, by loving and fearing him and diligently keeping his commandments. Both for love and fear of him abundant cause is drawn from his past dealings with Israel: from his condescension to their fathers and to themselves in their distress; and from his great acts for them and against their enemies. Finally Moses reminds them of the consequences which await their conduct: prosperity and success if they be faithful, misfortune and sorrow if otherwise. The alternative is solemnly and distinctly set before them, and the choice committed to themselves. Espin. The true principles of Christian obedience, as they are everywhere set forth in Scripture, are the love and fear of God: which are so far from being inconsistent with each other that they are really inseparable; the one deterring us from sin, the other exciting us to virtue and righteousness. They are both put together in these expressive words, in which Moses sums up his exhortations to the Israelites. Waldo. 10:12-16. And now, Israel, thifik again, "what doth the Lord thy God require of thee?" Could he ask less consistently with his righteousness and honor? Are not all his commands wise and right? Is it not an easy yoke to love a God so kind, to fear a God so holy, to obey a God so faithful and true? And now, Israel, look at the fact that all God's commands are for your good (verse 13)! A perfect obedience would insure perfect content. All the while you have been rebellious against the Lord, you have been fighting against your own highest interests. God's honor and your happiness require precisely the same course of life. And now, Israel, do remember this, for consider how great is the Divine condescension in caring for you at all (verse 14): "Lo! the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also with all that therein is." And what, what but infinite love should lead him thus to stoop from his high throne to care for you? It is not for your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. No account can be given why God should care for you so, save that he loves to do it. Then surely the reason is overwhelmingly strong for your gratitude, loyalty, and love. And now, Israel, seeing these things are so, could you do less for such a God than he asks of you, even if he did not ask it? So rich should be your joy in him, so reverent your fear, so devout your love, that you would with ready mind give God all, even if he did not require all. What he is to you should lead you to be to him all that he would have you be. How much stronger every one of these points may be made from the evangelic standpoint! By as much as the love of God in the great redemption in Christ Jesus is a grander disclosure than his love as revealed in the deliverance from Egypt, by so much should each argument be the more tender and strong. C. C. 13. Keep his commandments and his statutes. Having given up ourselves to his service, we must make his revealed will our rule in everything; perform all he prescribes; forbear all he forbids; firmly believing that all the statutes he commands us are for our good. Beside the reward of obedience, which will be our unspeakable gain, there is true honor and pleasure in obedience. It is really for our present good to be meek and humble, chaste and sober, just and charitable, patient and contented; these make us easy, and safe, and pleasant, and truly great. H. 16. With all his brooding tenderness of feeling, he hesitates not to charge that favored people to their faces with rebellion, with weak defection and despicable cowardice, with stiff-neckedness and hard-heartedness since he had known them. Not for their sakes, but for the fathers' sakes were they chosen, and in all that "great and terrible wilderness" had there been folded about them the everlasting arms. E. C. B. Moses fitly follows up the command "to circumcise the heart" with the warning "to be no more stiff-necked." His meaning is that they should lay aside that obduracy and perverse-ness toward God for which he had been reproving them, which had led them into so many transgressions of the covenant and revolts from God, and which was especially the very contrary of that love and fear of God required by the first two of the Ten Commandments. Similarly (30:6) circumcision of the heart is spoken of as a necessary condition of loving God; and on the other hand the epithet "uncircumcised" is applied to the heart, lips, etc. (Lev. 26:41; Jer. 4:4; Ezek. 44:9; Acts 7:51, etc.), to denote the native incapacity of the members of the body for God's service. The language associated with circumcision in the Bible distinguishes the use made of this rite in the Jewish religion from that found among certain heathen nations. Espin. Circumcise your heart. A plain proof from God himself that this precept pointed out spiritual things: and that the object of the Divine commandment was the purification of the soul; without which all forms and ceremonies are of no avail. Loving God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, the heart being circumcised to enable them to do it, was from the beginning the end, design, and fulfilment of the whole Law. A. C.—Wherefore, the prophets frequently taunt the transgressors of the Law by calling them uncircumcised, although they bore the visible sign in their flesh. When Moses exhorts them to sanctify themselves to God, he reasons from the nature and use of the sign, whereby they professed themselves to be his chosen people. In the second clause there is an elegant metaphor, of frequent occurrence, taken from oxen; for since the oxen which quietly offer their necks to the yoke are easily subdued to obedience, those are said to be "stiff-necked" which are fierce and obstinate in their nature. Calv. 11: 1-32. Moses here renews his exhortation to obedience, enforced by regard to their experience of God's dealings with them in Egypt and in the wilderness, and by consideration of God's promises and threatenings. The blessing and the curse are set before them consequent on the keeping or the transgressing of the Law. W. L. A. 1. The representations of the Divine character in the earlier part of the Bible are essentially identical with those in the later. Nothing shows this more plainly than the fact that the true worshippers of God under the Old Testament showed no less confidence in him than the more privileged worshippers under the New, and that the principle by which this feeling was elicited was identical in every dispensation. Throughout the Pentateuch, especially in Deuteronomy, there is an evident purpose by an exhibition of God's love to draw out love to him in return. It is this, indeed, which forms the real foundation for its oft-repeated command, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," which is represented as the fulfilment of the Law and the sum of all God's requirements. D. M.—Observe the connection of these two: Thou shalt love the Lord, and keep his charge: since love will work in obedience, and that only is acceptable obedience which flows from a principle of love. H. 2-6. There could not be a better way to keep the children of Israel in their integrity toward God than by frequently putting them in mind and fixing in their memory the history of all the miracles which he had wrought for them, from the time of their being in Egypt to their being in a triumphant condition in the land of Canaan: in which they had been eye-witnesses of more and greater miracles than all the world besides had been acquainted with from the time of the deluge. All that he expected from them for all his mercies was that they would acknowledge him their God, depend upon him, and not have recourse to other gods. Clarendon. 7-9. Thus from what they themselves had witnessed does Moses admonish the elder members of the congregation, summoning them to recognize in that the purpose of God to discipline and train them, that so they might keep his commandments and be strengthened in soul and purpose to go in and possess the land, and to live long therein. W. L. A.—The educative process by which God aimed at converting the hordes who left Egypt into a nation of brave, free, God-fearing, self-respecting, obedient men and women, blended deliverance with judgment on their enemies; loving-kindness in the bestowal of mercies, with severe chastisements in cases of rebellion; attention to their necessities, with frequent exposure to adversity, and consequent trial of their faith and patience. They had been put to school with the Almighty as their Teacher; their lesson-book was the whole extraordinary series of occurrences in Egypt and the desert; the end of the training was to form them to obedience. Orr. God meant much in bringing them to pass, and they should mean much in the use they made of them (verses 8, 9). If they laid them to heart and acted out the lessons they were designed to teach, they would continue in the land which God had assigned to them. The reference in the phrase, "that ye may prolong your days in the land," is to Israel's continuance as a nation. National continuance dependent on national obedience, is the one truth most frequently named in the exhortations of Israel's Lawgiver. All this has a present-day application to the people of God now. C. C. 10-12. "For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out." The physical features of Palestine present a striking contrast to those of the land of bondage. A widely extending plain forms the cultivated portion of Egypt, and on the greater part of this low and level country rain never falls. This natural want is supplied by the annual overflow of the Nile, and by artificial means from the same source, when the river has receded within its customary channel. The water is distributed in small channels or earthen conduits, simple in construction, worked by the foot, and formed with a mattock by the gardener who directs their course, and which are banked up or opened, as occasion may require, by pressing in the soil with the foot. Thus was the land watered in which the Israelites had dwelt so long. Jamieson. The absolute necessity of irrigation, and the nature of the irrigation, implied in the expression, "where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot," receive illustration from the pictures in the tombs, which show us the fields surrounded by broad canals, and intersected everywhere by cuttings from them, continually diminishing in size, until at last they are no more than rills banked up with a little mud, which the hand or "foot" might readily remove and replace, so turning the water in any direction that might be required by the cultivator. G. R. How beautifully exact is the contrast drawn by Moses between Palestine and Egypt; representing the latter as a flat country, and as a country favored of God only through a portion of the year—during the overflow of the Nile—and requiring to be laboriously irrigated during the rest of the year; whereas Palestine is an undulating country, and a country watched over by a perpetual Providence, receiving from time to time, as it needs, rain from the skies. The force of the contrast between Egypt and Palestine here described, and the contrast as it must have been felt by those who all their lives had known only the flat country of Egypt, can be imagined by the modern traveller who visits Palestine after Egypt. Hills and valleys never made such an impression on me as when I came into the holy land after having been three months in Egypt. N. C. B.—It is the Egypt of Sethos I., Rameses I. and II., and of Meneptah that has left its indelible impression on the Pentateuch. The nearly two score references to it by name in the Book of Deuteronomy alone are of unmistakable significance. In eleven only of the thirty-four chapters do we fail to find them. They abound equally in every part—laws as well as history. More than half the references are to Israel's deliverance and the signal manner of it. The next largest number are to the wonders wrought upon Pharaoh. Others are to the fact of the hard servitude, the homelessness, and the oppression of Israel. Four make mention of what kind of a land Egypt had been found, its evil diseases, and its methods of agriculture. Could anything, for example, be more true to nature or more picturesque than this: "For the land of which thou goest to take possession is not like the land of Egypt, whence ye are come out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot as a garden of herbs" (11:10)? Two passages make tender allusion to the circumstances that attended the going of Jacob into Egypt, and two contain terrifying ones to a possible future thraldom there. How abundant this testimony, and how inexplicable on the supposition that our book was written at any time between the reign of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat and the reforms of King Josiah? Moreover, it is of one uniform character. Selected out, a shred here and a shred there, from the entire web, there is no dissimilarity of color or texture. It is a Shemitic fabric, woven thick with threads of Egyptian memories. E. C. B. 14. The rain in its season, the former rain and the latter rain. By the former rain we are to understand that which fell in Judea about October, when they sowed their seed; this served to moisten and prepare the ground for the vegetation of the seed. The latter rain fell about April, when the corn was well grown up, and served to fill the ears and render them perfect. Rain rarely fell in Judea at any other seasons than these. If the former rain were withheld or not sent in due season, there could be no vegetation; if the latter rain were withheld or not sent in its due season, there could be no full corn in the ear, and consequently no harvest. Of what consequence then was it that they should have their rain in due season! God, by promising this provided they were obedient, and threatening to withhold it should they be disobedient, shows that the very rain of heaven falls by particular direction, and the showers are regulated by an especial Providence. A. C. 15-17. "I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle." Undoubtedly the special blessing of the former and the latter rain was one principal cause of the extraordinary fertility of Canaan in ancient times. That blessing was promised to the Israelites as a temporal reward for their fidelity to the national covenant. It was threatened to be withdrawn on their disobedience or apostasy; and most signally is the execution of that threatening seen in the present sterility of Palestine. Mr. Lowthian, an English farmer, who was struck during his journey from Joppa to Jerusalem by not seeing a blade of grass, where even in the poorest localities of Britain some wild vegetation is found, directed his attention particularly to the subject, and pursued the inquiry during a month's residence in Jerusalem. "Most clearly," says he, "did I perceive that the barrenness of large portions of the country was owing to the cessation of the early and latter rain, and that the absence of grass and flowers made it no longer the land (verse 9) flowing with milk and honey." Jamieson. 22-25. If they were sedulous to keep God's commandments, and faithfully adhered to him, loving him and walking in all his ways, he would drive out before them the nations of the Canaanites, and cause them to possess the territory of nations greater and mightier than themselves. Every place on which the soles of their feet should tread should be theirs—i.e., they had but to enter the land to become possessors of it. This is more exactly defined as restricted to the land the boundaries of which are given—from the Arabian desert on the south to Lebanon on the north, and from the river Euphrates on the east to the Mediterranean on the west. W. L. A.—Euphrates, which was on the East, to the uttermost sea, the Mediterranean, which lay westward of the promised land. This promise, notwithstanding the many provocations of the Israelites, was fulfilled in the time of Solomon, for "he reigned over all the kings from the river (Euphrates) even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt." A. C. 26-32. Moses, in conclusion, refers to the blessing and the curse consequent on the observance or the transgression of the Law, and prescribes that when they had entered on possession of the land the blessing should be proclaimed from Mount Gerizim, and the curse from Mount Ebal. W. L. A. 27,28. A blessing, and a curse.** This blessing and this curse are here represented as suspended respectively upon the obedience and disobedience of the people. And it is observable that the whole historical part of the Old Testament witnesses the truth of this, that God blessed or cursed them according as they kept or violated his laws. Patrick.—He sums up all his arguments for obedience in two words, the blessing and the curse—that is, the rewards and the punishments as they stand in the promises and the threatenings, which are the great sanctions of the Law taking hold of hope and fear, those two handles of the soul by which it is caught, held, and managed. These two, the blessing and the curse, he explained that they might know them; he enumerated the particulars contained both in the blessing and in the curse, that they might see the more fully how desirable the blessing was, and how dreadful the curse. He confirmed them that they might believe them; made it evident to them by the proofs he produced of his own commission, that the blessing was not a fool's paradise, nor the curse a bugbear, but that both were real declarations of the purpose of God concerning them. He charged them to choose which of these they would have. They and we are plainly told on what terms we stand with Almighty God. If we be obedient to his laws, we may be sure of a blessing. If we be disobedient, we may be as sure of a curse. Say ye to the righteous (for God has said it, and all the world cannot unsay it) that it shall be well with them: but woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them. H. Proceed upon the line of obedience, and you come to blessing; proceed along the line of disobedience, and a curse is the inevitable necessity—not a threatening, not an exhibition of fretful vengeance, but a spiritual necessity: a curse follows evil-doing, not as an arbitrary punishment, but as the effect, which can never be changed, of a certain, positive, operating cause. J. P.—The fire that does not melt, hardens. To know God's will and not to do it, inflicts unspeakable mischief upon the soul. Resistance of inward convictions begets callosity of heart, darkening of the understanding, and enslavement of the will. No blacker curse can enwrap a man than this. D. D.—The decision to which God summons us involves the alternative of a blessing and a curse. That was what it came to then, and it is the same still. Blessing or curse; life or death. Whether God is to be our God, blessing us, renewing our inward life, enriching us with his Spirit, bestowing on us grace here and glory hereafter; or whether we are to live beneath his frown, withering up under it in body and soul, and vanishing at last into outer darkness. The issue of one is death, of the other life everlasting. Orr. 29,30. Thou shalt put the blessing; thou shalt give forth, utter, announce, proclaim. The two mountains named stand opposite to each other, with a valley between, about two hundred yards broad at the widest part, in which stood the town of Shechem, now Nablus. They were selected for the purpose mentioned, doubtless, because of their relative position, and probably also because they stand in the centre of the land both from north to south, and from east to west. W. L. A. The mountains Gerizim and Ebal rise in steep walls of rock immediately out of the valley of Sichem, the present Nablus, about eight hundred feet high on each side. Each of the mountains has a table land which affords room to a considerable number of men. Gert. ONE CENTRAL SANCTUARY. LAW RESPECTING THE KING: CHOSEN OF GOD AND APPROVED BY THE PEOPLE; AN ISRAELITE, NOT A FOREIGNER; SHALL NOT MULTIPLY HORSES, WIVES, TREASURE; SHALL READ AND OBSERVE THE LAW. Ex. 33 19 And he said, Shew me, I pray thee, thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock: and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand until I have passed by: and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back: but my face shall not be seen. Ex. 34 1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables, which thou brakest. And be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me on the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone. De. 10 1 At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. Ex. 34 5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD, a God full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth; 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin : and that will by no means clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the 8 children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. And Moses made haste, 9 and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray thee, go in the midst of us ; for it is a stiffnecked people ; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. De. 9 18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights ; I did neither eat bread nor drink water ; because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which 19 was evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and 20 hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me that time also. And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him : and I prayed for Aaron also the same time. 25. So I fell down before the LORD the forty days and forty nights that I fell down ; because the 26 LORD had said he would destroy you. And I prayed unto the LORD, and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, 27 which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wicked- 28 ness, nor to their sin : lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised unto them, and because he hated them, 29 he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy great power and by thy stretched out arm. De. 10 10 And I stayed in the mount, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights : and the LORD hearkened unto me that time also ; the LORD would not destroy thee. The Crowning Petition of Moses and the Promise of God in the Tent of Meeting. 19. Moses makes a very grand prayer, "I BE-SEECH THEE, SHOW ME THY GLORY." What, had he not seen it in the burning mount, when the earth shook, and Israel trembled, and the mount was crowned with a coronal of the intensest glory ? Had he not seen God's glory when they marched through the channels of the deep dry-shod ? Had he not seen it in the rock in the wilderness ? Had he not seen it in the pillar of fire by night ? J. C.—He had seen much more of God's glory than all other men. The bush that burned, and yet was not consumed ; the Red Sea moved out from its bed ; the manna rained down from above ; the arid rock changed to a source of living streams ! Alone, upon the top of Sinai, and amidst most dreadful signs, he had received the Law of God ; moreover, with the elders of the Israelites, he had beheld the pavement which the King of Israel laid for the palace where he sits enthroned—what seemed transparent sapphire-stone. Yet more this insatiable, this high-minded servant of the Lord desires. Van O. The "God of glory" had appeared to Moses at the Bush, and had spoken to him the incommunicable Name. He had seen the glory of God on that night, so much to be remembered, when Jehovah's royal ensign fired the firmament, and under Heaven's immediate guidance the glorious march began. And but a few days were past since this Sinai smoked, and while the glory of the Lord, like devouring fire, encircled the mountain-top, the voice of the Eternal filled the surrounding solitudes with words which echo still and shall never pass away. But all this did not suffice, and in the mind of Moses there was only enkindled a longing for some manifestation more intimate and soul-contenting. Jehovah's answer shows in what direction the heart of Moses pointed. "I beseech thee, show me thy glory," says Moses. "I will," answers Jehovah, "I will show thee my goodness, my kindness, and my grace." Of majesty and grandeur he had already seen as much as heart could wish, as much as the frail body could endure. The personality, the might, the holiness of the Most High, were never likely to be effaced from his awe-struck spirit as long as he had any being ; but still amid all its condescension, what wonder if the terrible majesty still left an impression of something far off and formidable ? But just at this very instant in the devouring fire had opened an inlet mild and merciful, and Israel's intercessor glimpsed a glory still interior—the heart of Jehovah, rich in forgiveness, and radiating forth its ceaseless loving kindness. Not only had he pardoned a most scandalous insult to his supremacy, and in answer to Moses's bold entreaty consented still to abide by the ungrateful people—"My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest"—but with overflowing tenderness he had spoken most friendly words to the intercessor himself—"I will do as thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name." Grasping at that gracious word, pressing up into the exalted intimacy of which he had obtained an earnest so encouraging, Moses replied, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory." "Let me come still nearer. Prolong this blessed moment, and admit me still further into thy presence." Hamilton. The high spiritual state to which the man Moses had been brought, and which irrepressibly prompted this lofty yet heart-yearning cry, was not reached at once. It was wrought within him as an ultimate effect, after successive exercises of faith working mightily through prayer. With a faith that had gathered boldness and courage by success, turning from Israel to himself, partly perhaps from a deep consciousness of his own need as Israel's leader, and partly from an intense spiritual craving after a larger, more satisfying knowledge of God and closer approach to him, now it is, as the ultimate highest effect of living, pleading, expanding faith, that he throws all his soul into the fervent entreaty, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory!" For something other; something more than a visible glory; something that neither miracle nor portent could disclose. For something spiritual assuredly: something that could reach and penetrate his soul with soothing and support, with restfulness and peace. Here spake out the consciously disquieted, unsatisfied man. In this fervid entreaty is the expressed conviction of a felt ignorance of God, more than all, the outbreak of a feeling of deep spiritual want; a want of closer, more endearing fellowship with God. "Show me thyself! Reveal thine inmost heart to me, thy holy, loving, gracious nature, which maketh thee most truly glorious!" The instant answer shows that this was what he craved. Meeting exactly, fully, the want of the suppliant's soul, Jehovah Jesus unveiled to him with far greater distinctness than had been unveiled to man before the very heart of the Godhead. To the fervid entreaty of his servant he answered, "I will make ALL MY GOODNESS pass before thee, and I will PROCLAIM THE NAME OF THE LORD before thee!" B. The nearer he came to God, the swifter was the course of his soul, and the more burning its ardor toward him. Thus it is and ever must be that the idea of God, just in proportion as it opens on the soul, absorbs the whole being, entrances all the faculties, and fills and satisfies the holy mind and heart with bliss ineffable, inconceivable. And thus are the desires of holy souls described in God's own word, as drawn out after him, and only after him, everything else passing into forgetfulness and nothingness in the comparison: "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon the earth that I desire besides thee." Cheever.—A humble heart cannot be satisfied with so much grace as will bring it to glory, with so much of heaven as will keep it from dropping into hell; it is still crying out, "Give, Lord, give; give me more of thyself, more of thy Son, more of thy Spirit; give me more light, more life, more love." Brooks.—All that are effectually called to the knowledge of God and fellowship with him, though they desire nothing more than God, yet they are still coveting more and more of him, till they come to see as they are seen. H. God will cause "His goodness to pass before him;" and will "proclaim His Name," or His glorious attributes before him; hereby intimating that to know God in His glorious attributes or moral perfections was of much greater importance than to be admitted to the immediate sight of that outward Divine Glory, even though he had been able to behold it in all its unutterable splendor. Leland.—How precious is the thought that when God is seen to be most good to his creatures, he is then seen to be most glorious in the universe; that the glory and the goodness of God are so connected together that where the one is most revealed, the other shines in its richest splendor. Not power in creating, not justice in punishing, but goodness in saving sets forth most the glory of God. Creation is the mirror of his power; Sinai is the pedestal of his justice; but Calvary is the scene of his goodness and therefore of his great glory. Not the manifestation of power, not the manifestation of justice, but the manifestation of goodness, is the most impressive on the heart. God adds also, "I will proclaim the name of the Lord." Thus we see that God's goodness, God's glory, and God's name are one and the same thing. J. C. 21-23. Into a rocky recess in some part of the mount near where the cloud was abiding Moses should enter, and after being still further overshadowed by the Divine hand (Arab. "I will overshadow thee with my cloud"), should be permitted to behold a transient glimpse of the overpowering brightness of Jehovah. But even this was not to be a view of his face. The interposing medium was to screen the vision from his sight till it had passed by, and then he was to look upon it and behold his back parts, as one might behold the back of a royal personage as he moved along in majestic state in front of his train. Bush.—I will take away mine hand. When the full splendor of my majesty is passed I will remove that cloud which covered thee; and thou shalt have a shaded and imperfect view of the symbol of my presence; but thou shalt not see my glory in its fullest lustre. Bp. Patrick.—The bright side of the glorious light, where it shone with its full unveiled lustre, is called the fore part, or “face;” and the dark side, where there was a lower degree of brightness, is called its “back part.” There is no danger that any one who reads the Scriptures should think that the Divine Essence consists of any bodily form or parts; since he is described as “filling the heaven of heavens” (1 Kings 8:27), as “a spirit” (John 4:24), “whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). Leland. The revelation asked for was reserved until Moses should prepare two other tables of stone all ready for the final restoration and renewal of the covenant. S. R.—The promise here given was to be fulfilled on the morrow, when the mediator was to receive the twofold reward of his spiritual wrestling; the covenant was to be renewed with the nation according to its original terms, and he himself was to be permitted to penetrate more deeply into the mysteries of the Divine nature than had ever before been granted to mortal man. Clark. At Jehovah's Bidding, Moses Hews Two Stone Tables, Makes an Ark, Ascends Sinai, and Presents Himself before God. 32. While the children of Israel were in the wilderness.** Moses mentions here, as is his wont, the first open transgression and its punishment, in order to exemplify the laws which he is laying down. The offence of Sabbath-breaking was one for which there could be no excuse. This law at least might be observed even in the wilderness. Espin.—His offence was the doing servile work; its spirit was presumptuous disobedience to Jehovah, and the penalty had already been declared. The case was expressly referred by Moses to Jehovah, and it is recorded as an exexample that the law of the Sabbath was not to be a dead letter. P. S.—In the judgment of this case we must carefully keep in view the significance of the Sabbath as the sign of God's covenant with his people. An intentional transgression of the prohibition to work was an open breach of the covenant, an act of rebellion against the Lord. Gerl. We think of huge sins; there are none. We think of little sins; there are none. In relation to the poor man who went out on the Sabbath day to gather a bundle of "sticks," we look at the "sticks" and not at the Sabbath. Why not look at the reality of the case—of every case—and instead of dwelling upon the relative smallness of the offence, fix the imagination and the judgment and the conscience upon the thing violated?—for only in that way can we establish the balance of righteousness and begin to understand the movement of God. J. P. De. 6 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thine heart : and 7 thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest 8 down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine 9 hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.De. 11 18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul ; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between 19 your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sit- test in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, 20 and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thine 21 house, and upon thy gates : that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.De. 6 20 When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgements, which the LORD our God hath commanded 21 you ? then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt ; and 22 the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand : and the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, 23 before our eyes : and he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to 24 give us the land which he swore unto our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might 25 preserve us alive, as at his day. And it shall be righteousness unto us, if we observe to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he hath com- manded us.Nu. 15 37 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and 38 bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of each border a cord of blue : 39 and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them ; and that ye go not about after your 40 own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring : that ye may 41 remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God : I am the LORD your God. De. 6 : 6. These words shall be upon thine heart. De. 11 : 18. Lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul. This is the first and fundamental requirement of this brief series. B.—God's words must be laid up in our heart, that our thoughts may be daily conversant with them, and employed about them, and thereby the whole soul may be brought to abide and act under the influence and impression of them. This immediately follows upon the law of loving God with all our heart; for they that do so will lay up his Word in their hearts, both as an evidence and effect of that love, and as a means to preserve and increase it. He that loves God loves his Bible. H. God's words are to be received first of all into the heart. It is when individuals receive God's testimony into the heart, as Lydia did, that it leads to a fitting public profession. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness," and then "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." As the ark received the tables of the Law, so the heart of man is to be the depository of the Divine commandments. Edgar.—Truth, possessing the heart, becomes the fount of all righteous principle. As the pulverized soil is the proper home of seed, so the heart of man is the proper abode of truth. On stony tablets, in books, or in speech, it is only in transit toward its proper destination. Received and welcomed into the soul, it begins a process of blessed activity; it vitalizes, ennobles, beautifies every part of human nature. It is the seed of all virtue and goodness—the root of immortal blessedness. Truth in the heart is translated into righteousness in the life, and righteousness makes heaven. No enjoyment can be perfect in which our children do not share; and in sharing our joys with our children, we multiply our joys beyond all arithmetical measure. Such days of consecrated service will be "days of heaven upon earth." Davies. Where true love to God exists in the heart, it will manifest itself in a regard to his will and in the diligent keeping of his commandments. Hence his words were to be not only in the memory of the people, but laid upon their heart, that they might be ever present to the thought and will. 7. They were also to be inculcated upon their children, and to be the subject of conversation on all fitting occasions between them, the members of their household, and even their casual associates. Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children; literally, Thou shalt sharpen them to thy children, impress them upon them, send them into them like a sharp weapon. W. L. A.—"And shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." These words were addressed not to the official representatives, the ecclesiastical leaders of Israel, but to the whole body of the people. They enjoin on every parent or head of a household the duty of teaching his children the commandments of God. And this teaching is to be distinctive, positive, diligent, earnest, oft-repeated, constant. Very many directions of a similar import are to be found throughout the Old Testament; reappearing also in the New; where parents are required to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. W. Adams. De. 11 : 19. Ye shall teach them your children. This is repeated very often. The Jews do this diligently. As soon as their children are capable of understanding anything, they make them carefully read the holy books: and instruct them, so that before they can be called youths they are acquainted with the whole Law of God. In this they shame many Christians, who scarce understand as much of their religion when they are men and women, as the Jews do of theirs when they are mere children. Bp. Patrick.—It is decreed in the Law of Moses that children shall be taught it; and to this day the child's first accents are almost formed by "the holy language," as the Hebrews emphatically distinguish theirs, till they acquire the holy language itself, at least by rote. The Law of Moses inculcates that it should form the subject of their conversations, walking or sitting; and so familiar is this knowledge to the Jewish ear, that whenever their Law is quoted in conversation, which it frequently is, it is usual with an auditor to chime in with the close of the passage, like a chant often repeated. The Pentateuch is delivered by sections corresponding with the Sabbaths of the year, while each weekly section is further subdivided into two portions, delivered on two days weekly. At the close of the year the "Holy Law" has been twice repeated. D'Israeli. The religious education of children is God's way of perpetuating vital religion. No other agency, of the Church or Sunday-school, can relieve the parent from this duty or compensate for his neglect of it. This education is to be carried on painstakingly and systematically. "In thine house, when thou sittest, when thou liest down, when thou risest up, and when thou walkest by the way." Orr.—Parents are em phatically enjoined to teach God's truth to their own children. They cannot delegate this matter altogether to others. It is to be treated as of paramount importance. It is a subject to be talked of at all times as no other subject should be. The occasional services of the preacher, the Sabbath-school once in the week, will never suffice. The world has the Church at a prodigious advantage: six days against one. These are things to be taught not one day in seven, but every day, every morning and every evening, at all times, with utmost diligence. An. Parental life holds a great trust in charge, to be committed to those who shall come after; that though one generation passeth away and another cometh, there may be no break in the continuity of holy thinking and living, from age to age. The Hebrews had their Law, which, as a revelation from God, was in advance of aught possessed by the rest of the world, and in which was couched the germ of larger truth that was to follow. There might be more light thrown upon it; there was never to be a forfeiture of it. Hence there were special reasons why parents should guard it intact for all the ages that were to follow. The light from the past is to be handed down for the ages to come, that sire and son and son's son may rejoice in the same God, and insure a blessed continuity of holy faith and consecrated life. C. C.—The most sedulous care in instructing their children in the rites and ceremonies of their religion, and in the reasons on which they were founded, is frequently enjoined upon parents throughout the Mosaic narrative. The Psalmist also speaks of it (Ps. 78:5-8) as a positive institution among his people: "For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born: who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God." Bush.—In these words of the Psalmist the duty is urged, partly for their own profit (verse 7), "That they might set their hope in God." Acquaintance with God's favor will encourage their faith; knowledge of his power will help them to believe his promise. By teaching thy children God's actions, thou wilt fix them the faster, and they will make the greater impression upon thy own spirit. A frequent mention of things is the best art of memory: what the mouth preacheth often the mind will ponder much. Besides, it may work for thy children's weal; the more they be acquainted with the goodness, wisdom, power, and faithfulness of God which appear in his works, the more they will fear, love, and trust him. Swinnock. He whose memory is rich has a song for every day; he who recollects the past in all its deliverances, in all its sudden brightnesses, in all its revelations and appearances, cannot be terrified or chased by the spirit of fear: he lives a quiet life, deep as the peace of God. Can Moses suggest any way of keeping the memory of God's providences quick and fresh? He lays down the true way of accomplishing this purpose: Speak about them, dwell upon them, magnify them, be grateful for them. What a reproach to those Christians who are dumb! How much they lose who never speak about God! "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written. . . . And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels." De. 6:7. Talk of them. The very word is suggestive. The words of God are to be so thoroughly in our hearts as to become part of our life; then we may talk about them with the ease of conscious mastery, with the familiarity of the heart's truest friendship. Religion is not to be introduced upon State occasions, or upon great days, or even upon the Sabbath day as an exclusive period of time. The Word of God is to be talked about, is to come into conversation as if it had a right to be there, to elevate the speech of social man, to give grace and dignity and solemnity to all the transactions of the day. J. P.—God's words are to be the staple of home training. The children are to be taught them at home, when the "home school" is gathered together. God's words are also to be the staple of conversation when parents and children are enjoying their saunters together. And the first thought of the morning and the last at night should be of God's commandments. In this way the indoctrination of the rising generation is to be secured. Well would it be for us still if these old Jewish rules were practised. . . . The children are manifestly meant to be the companions of the parents, to have their parents' society at home and abroad, at morning and night. The mistake made by many parents is not making themselves simply companionable. It is companionship that determines the bent of children. Edgar. De. 6 : 20-25. Moses told Israel that questions would be asked. The son would ask of the father the meaning of institutions, statutes, and judgments, and the father was bound to reply to the son's natural and rational inquiry. Such is our position now. It is incumbent upon us to be able to give some reason or explanation for the faith and the hope that are in us. We cannot adopt a better reply than the answer suggested by Moses. No originality of answer is required. The leader of Israel gave the only reply that will stand the test of reason and the wear and tear of time. We could enlarge the answer which Israel was to give, and ennoble it. We, too, were in a house of bondage. That must be our first point. Human nature had gone astray. The great cry of the ages was, "There is none righteous, no, not one." The Christian argument starts there. All Christian doctrine is founded upon that one fact, or bears direct and vital relation to it. We, too, could add with Israel, that human nature was divinely delivered, and that the deliverance was attested by many "signs and wonders." We, too, had a Deliverer, the same that Israel had; the name of our Deliverer is Jesus Christ. He was born in Bethlehem; he proclaimed himself the Son of Man, the Son of God; he looked upon the whole race with eyes filled with tears; he tasted death for every man; he died the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God; he was crucified, he died and was buried, and on the third day he rose again, and now he is in heaven, our Advocate before the throne; his wounds still upon him as historical marks, but the pain of the wounding is forever gone. That is our answer in brief and imperfect outline. We, therefore, stand upon this historical ground. J. P. All the more substantial part of the lines of thought here indicated is unchanged and unchangeable. Christian parents are inheritors of the truth of God: they hold it in trust for their children: they, as they grow up, will inquire concerning it: its historic basis is the great deliverance effected by the Lord Jesus: Christians are now God's peculiar people: they are redeemed that they may be holy, and that in holiness they may train succeeding generations: and just in proportion as through them loyalty to the truth and to God is leavening their posterity, are they bringing honor to the cause they espouse. Hebrews were to be conservative. Christians are to be also aggressive. We are to be "the light of the world," and "the salt of the earth." By the light of God's love we are to scatter men's darkness, and by the salt of God's truth are we to stay its corruption. And just so far as our nation is imbued with righteousness and truth, will it have within it the guarantee of its own perpetuation. C. C. 20. Inquiry is the king's highway to wisdom, and who dare block it up? God loves to hear honest inquiry. To afford instruction is the delight of the Divine Spirit, but what instruction will be valued if no spirit of inquiry is awake? Some questions which we ask can never be solved; they are beyond the range of the human mind. Some questions God will not answer, because they are vain and useless. But honest questions, with a view to practical obedience, God delights to hear. You can do the young no better service than encourage their minds to inquire after religious facts. "What mean these things?" Davies. 23,24. If they continued faithfully witnessing for God, the land would be continued to them; if not, they would have to quit, and give up the possession thereof to strangers. This is precisely the principle on which God governs the nations now. No nation can preserve itself in being by any other policy than that of obedience to God. Disloyalty to God and the right is the surest possible policy of decomposition. C. C. 25. Our righteousness.** As contrasted with Pauline sayings, the text is an illustration of the maxim, "On the outside of things look for differences, on the inside for likenesses." Hare.—The form is that of the Law, the spirit is that of Christ, whose Gospel is the key to the Law's utterances. Here is a requirement which believers in Christ are enabled to fulfil, though imperfectly, yet acceptably. The utmost that the Jew could render was that imperfect but sincere obedience which is still the mark of the true believer. The believer's duty is to render a perfect obedience; his privilege is that, falling short of this, his sincere though faulty obedience will be graciously accepted for the sake of Christ. In harmony with his calling, it was to be the Jew's aim to realize the righteousness which the Law set before him. But in his inability to do this the weakness of the Law revealed itself, and in contrast with this weakness (Rom. 8 : 3) is the power of the Gospel, enabling the believer to triumph, and to bring forth fruit unto holiness, the end of which is everlasting life (Rom. 6 : 22). This also is a "righteousness of faith," as springing from faith, and rendered possible through it. It is his righteousness, yet in a deeper sense not his, but Christ's, for it is the work of Christ living in him (Gal. 2 : 20). It is not the ground of acceptance, but a result of it; not a title to heaven, but a meetness for it. It is itself a gift of grace. Orr. As to the religious instruction and the worship of the people, the Mosaic code recognizes and perpetuates the ancient patriarchal form of family religion. The new ritual did by no means supersede that. Except in providing by the institution of a Sabbath the time needful for religious instruction, and in distributing the Levites among the people everywhere as religious teachers, it is noteworthy that the laws of religion given by Moses seem to provide no systems and methods of religious instruction; but left that to the ancient custom of family religion among the patriarchs, and to the good sense of the people. S. R.—The Mosaic Law required that the greatest pains should be taken to mould the minds, the principles, the habits, and manners of the young. Parents were again and again commanded to teach their children from infancy all the words of the Law, and all the glorious facts of their national history. The whole system of legislation was crowded with commemorative rites and festivals. Into the meaning of these it was taken for granted that the young would inquire, and it was ordained that their curiosity should be satisfied by the explanations of their sires. The Passover reminded them of the wonders of the exode; the Pentecost of the terrific splendors which accompanied the giving of the Law; the feast of tabernacles of the hardships and miraculous supplies of the wilderness; and the monumental heap of stones at Gilgal of the standing of the waters of Jordan upon a heap to afford a passage to their forefathers. E. C. W. The Law requires that a holy education in the fear and love of God be given to children. There are no special precepts in the Law with a view to this, but it is repeated again and again with great emphasis, that the Divine deeds in the redemption and guidance of Israel, and the Divine commands, are to be impressed on the children. O.—The home is here supposed to be a centre in which the conserving forces of truth and godliness are to be themselves conserved. What a profound principle Moses here indicates—viz., that a nation will be good or bad according to its home life! Wonderful! that an infant nation should, at starting, have this truth deep graven in its statutes—our land will be as our homes are! In the home, our God looks to the parent to give it its character, tone, and influence. A child's religious faith is, in a high and holy sense, to be chosen for him by anticipation, by those who were "in Christ before" him. The truths are to be in the parents' heart, that they may be poured out anew from thence as rivers of living water. Hence the word in verse 7, "Thou shalt sharpen them;" coming fresh out of the sanctuary of a living soul, they are to be pointed, quick, and breathing truths. By a variety of ways, the parent is to see his child's spirit early saturated with the truths of God. Thus the child is from the first to be regarded as God's child, to be trained for him. He is to receive God's Word through the avenues of eye, ear, intellect, heart. Divine truth is to be ever before him, night and day, indoors and out. Those who gave him birth and who love him best are to mould his young life for God; he is to grow up as the Lord's rightful possession, with the view of his afterward saying, in the spirit of devout surrender, "I am the Lord's!" Whatever was essential in the days of Moses, in the training of children for God as the means of guarding a nation, is not less needful now. The wider the range of human learning becomes, the more needful it should be rightly directed; otherwise the greater the attainment, the greater the peril! C. C. The most powerful agency for the promotion of piety and for the diffusion of practical righteousness is the household. If any one doubts it, let him study the history of monasticism, or let him look closely into the life of military camps. Religion, of necessity, makes the home its sanctuary and training school. For while it is personal, it is no less social. It has two great commandments, love to God and love to man. They cannot be severed. And so we find that while atheism breaks up the home, and remands the children to the care of the State, Christianity builds up the home, invests it with inviolable sanctities, and makes the parent a priest of righteousness. The Prophet Malachi declares that God ordained monogamy as the law of the household, in order that he might secure a godly seed. Polygamy enervates and brutalizes. It is the monogamous races that have seized the leadership of the world's civilization. What the cell is to the human body, that the family is to society. Behrends. The standing of children in the covenant entails serious obligations on the parents. (1) Religious instruction. The children had not been personally at Horeb. They had not seen the mighty works of God in Egypt and the desert. It was the duty of parents to acquaint them with the history, and to instruct them in their duties. (2) Religious training, which is education in act, as instruction is education in word. (3) Religious example. The parent is to be one who loves the Lord for himself. The Word is to be in his own heart. Only thus will he teach with effect. All this has its counterpart in the duties of Christian parents. The standing of children in the covenant entails serious obligations on the children. Where parental duties had been fulfilled, the Israelitish child was under the most sacred obligations to choose and adhere to the God of his fathers, and to serve him in the way prescribed. There was in this no interference with freedom, for when God proposes covenant relations to a human being, while it is his privilege, it can never be aught else than his duty to accept them. In the Christian Church, a like obligation rests on the children of believers. The baptized child is bound to serve God, and, if properly instructed, it cannot evade the responsibilities thus laid upon it. Great is the guilt of a child brought up in a Christian home, if wantonly it apostatizes. Orr. De. 6: 7-9. To help in keeping a sense of religion in their minds, it was commanded that its great principles should be carried about with them wherever they went, as well as meet their eyes every time they entered their homes. It is probable that Moses used the phraseology in the seventh verse, merely in a figurative way, to signify assiduous, earnest, and frequent instruction; and perhaps he meant the metaphorical language in the eighth verse to be taken in the same sense also. But as the Israelites interpreted it literally, many writers suppose that a reference was made to a superstitious custom borrowed from the Egyptians, who wore jewels and ornamental trinkets on the forehead and arm, inscribed with certain words and sentences, as amulets to protect them from danger. These, it has been conjectured, Moses intended to supersede by substituting sentences of the Law; and so the Hebrews understood him, for they have always considered the wearing of the Tephilim or frontlets a permanent obligation. With regard to the other usage supposed to be alluded to, the ancient Egyptians had the lintels and imposts of their doors and gates inscribed with sentences indicative of a favorable omen [WILKINSON]; and this is still the case, for in Egypt and other Mohammedan countries the front doors of houses—in Cairo, for instance—are painted red, white, and green, bearing conspicuously inscribed upon them such sentences from the Koran as “God is the Creator,” “God is one, and Mohammed is his prophet.” Moses designed to turn this ancient and favorite custom to a better account, and ordered that, ininstead of the former superstitious inscriptions, should be written the words of God, persuading and enjoining the people to hold the laws in perpetual remembrance. Jimieson. De. 6: 8; 11: 18. Bind them for a sign upon your hand, as frontlets between your eyes. He desires bracelets and frontlets to be made of the precepts of the Law, contrasting doubtless this spiritual ornament with chains of gold, as much as to say that they would more properly take delight in the pious recollection of the Law than in those trifling ornaments which attract men's senses. The Jews, understanding this literally, accounted this external ostentation a mark of holiness, so as to think that they had almost done all they needed when they wore the Law on their arms and foreheads. Calv. It shall be for a token or memorial of what God did for your forefathers; to make thee as sensible of God's goodness as of that which thou hast in thy hand, or of a thing which is continually before thine eyes. The Jewish superstition of wearing what were called “phylacteries” took its rise from these words. Phylactery is a word derived from the Greek, and properly signifies a preservative, such as the Pagans carried about them to preserve them from evils, diseases, or dangers. The Jewish phylacteries were little boxes, or rolls of parchment, in which were written certain words of the Law. Patrick.—The Jewish custom originated at a time (probably after the return from Babylon) when Israel, by its traditions, had perverted the command of God into doctrines of men. Gert.—The manner in which the Jews understood and kept these commands may appear in their practice. They wrote the following four portions of the Law upon slips of parchment or vellum: Sanctify unto me the firstborn (Ex. 13 from verses 2-10, inclusive). And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land (Ex. 13 from verses 11-16, inclusive). Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord (De. 6 from verses 4-9, inclusive). And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently (De. 11 from verses 13-21, inclusive). These four portions, covered with leather, they tied to the forehead and to the hand or arm. Those which were for the head (the frontlets) they wrote on four slips of parchment, and rolled up each by itself, and placed them in four compartments, joined together in one piece of skin or leather. Those which were designed for the hand were formed of one piece of parchment, the four portions being written upon it in four columns, and rolled up from one end to the other. These were all correct transcripts from the Mosaic text, without one redundant or deficient letter, otherwise they were not lawful to be worn. Those for the head were tied on so as to rest on the forehead. Those for the hand or arm were usually tied on the left arm a little above the elbow, on the inside, that they might be near the heart, according to the command (De. 6 : 6). These phylacteries formed no inconsiderable part of a Jew's religion; they wore them always when they read the Law, or when they prayed; and hence they called them tephillin, prayer-ornaments, oratories, or incitements to prayer. In process of time, the spirit of this law was lost in the letter, and when the word was not in their mouth nor the Law in their heart, they had their phylacteries on their heads and on their hands. And the Pharisees, who in our Lord's time affected extraordinary piety, made their phylacteries very broad, that they might have many sentences written upon them, or the ordinary portions in very large and observable letters. A. C. The words of God were to be bound for a sign [a memorial or directory] upon thine hand, the instrument of acting, and to be as frontlets [fillets or bands] between thine eyes, the organs of direction in walking or moving, and so on the forehead, the chamber of thought and purpose; and they were to inscribe them on the posts of their houses, and on their gates. The purport of this is that they were constantly and everywhere to have these commandments of the Lord in view and in mind, so as to undeviatingly observe them. W. L. A.—God's words are to be kept before our own eyes and the eyes of others. This seems to be the idea about the frontlets between the eyes—in this way others had the words displayed for their benefit; whereas the placing them upon the hand was for the individual's own memorial (cf. Isa. 49 : 16). So the person heartily interested in God's Word will make arrangements to remind himself continually of it, and also to keep it before the minds of others. Religion thus becomes not only a constant personal experience, but a constant public profession. Edgar.—It is also intimated that we must never be ashamed to own our religion, nor to own ourselves under the check and government of it. Let it be written on our gates, and let every one that goes by our door read it, That we believe Jehovah to be God alone, and believe ourselves bound to love him with all our hearts. H. The Jew was to write God's commandments on the door-posts and on the gates of his house. The household was thus to be God's. Households need conversion just as individuals do. There is as much difference between a religious household and a worldly one as there is between a converted and an unconverted individual. The direction given consequently to the Jews covered the household as well as the person, and was thus perfect. Edgar. It seems to have been a custom widely prevalent among the ancient Eastern peoples to carry about their persons slips of parchment or some other material, on which were written sentences of moral or religious import; and such sentences they were also wont to inscribe on conspicuous places of their dwellings; usages still to be found among the Moslems, and the latter of which was not altogether unknown among Western nations, of which traces may still be seen in Switzerland, Germany, and on old houses in both England and Scotland. This custom originated, probably, in a desire to have the sentiments inscribed always in mind; but for the most part these inscriptions came to be regarded as amulets or charms, the presence of which on the person or the house was a safeguard against evil influences, especially such as were supernatural. W. L. A. There have been various conjectures as to the object of this law. The most probable is that the "fringe" was intended as a sort of badge by which, as well as by circumcision and by the fashion of their beards and by their peculiar diet, the Hebrews were to be distinguished from other people. Be this as it may, much superstition came in the end to be connected with the use of these fringes. The Pharisees are severely censured by our Saviour for the ostentatious hypocrisy with which they made broad the "borders" of their garments. Pict. Com. 29. It is plain that God had no other object but to exercise the Jews in constant meditation upon the Law. There was no religion contained in the fringes themselves, nor had that material texture any value in itself; but since men are forgetful in the cultivation of piety, God would by this aid make provision for their infirmity. When he says that they should "look upon it and remember," he hints that they have need of these rudiments, which may strike their outward senses; and again, that unless their memory was kept awake, forgetfulness would steal upon them. But it is added that God has no satisfaction in mere knowledge, but demands serious affections and practical performance. In the latter part of the verse he requires not only that their sluggishness should be stimulated but their wantonness restrained. When he says "that ye seek not after your own heart," he intimates that unless God should restrain their wandering senses, they would be inclined to all superstitions and errors. Calv. 40,41. Very plainly and impressively is the full reason of this peculiar ordinance emphasized in these two verses, "That ye may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God." "I am the Lord your God!" B. De. 12 5 But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come : 6 and thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of 7 your herd and of your flock : and there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God 8 hath blessed thee. Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man 9 whatsoever is right in his own eyes : for ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheri- 10 tance, which the LORD your God giveth thee. But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God causeth you to inherit, and he giveth you rest from all your 11 enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety ; then it shall come to pass that the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, thither shall ye bring all that I command you ; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave 12 offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD : and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menser- vants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates, forasmuch as he hath 13 no portion nor inheritance with you. Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offer- 14 in every place that thou seest : but in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I com- 15 mand thee. Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh within all thy gates, after all the desire of thy soul, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee : 16 the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart. Only ye shall 17 not eat the blood ; thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water. Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thine oil, or the firstlings of thy herd or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, nor 18 the heave offering of thine hand : but thou shalt eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates : and thou shalt 19 rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. Take heed to thy- self that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon thy land. 20 When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul desireth to eat flesh ; thou mayest eat flesh, after all the 21 desire of thy soul. If the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the LORD hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat within thy gates, after all the desire 22 of thy soul. Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat thereof : the un- clean and the clean shall eat thereof alike. Only be sure that thou eat not the blood : for the 23 blood is the life ; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh. Thou shalt not eat it ; thou 24 shalt pour it out upon the earth as water. Thou shalt not eat it ; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the eyes of 25 the LORD. Only thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take, and go unto 26 the place which the LORD shall choose : and thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God : and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured 27 out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh. Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the eyes of the LORD thy God. 17 14 When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein ; and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the 15 nations that are round about me ; thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose : one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee : thou 16 mayest not put a foreigner over thee, which is not thy brother. Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses : forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that 17 way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away : neither shall 18 he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which 19 is before the priests the Levites : and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life : that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law 20 and these statutes, to do them : that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left : to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel. # One Sanctuary Enforcing Unity of Worship. The ecclesiastical and national unity of Israel was to be maintained even when Israel should be no longer united, as they had hitherto been in the wilderness, but should be spread over extensive districts of country. A particular place, which the Lord would choose for the erection of his sanctuary, was to be adopted by them as the scene of their common worship. This unity of worship, for whose sake the command had gone forth to destroy all altars and pillars, and whatsoever was calculated to recall the idolatry of the former inhabitants, was indispensably necessary unless Israel were sooner or later to sink into the heathenish manners and customs of the aborigines. C. G. B.—The reason for this command enforcing the unity of the worship of God was apparent. In the wilderness, where Israel formed one great camp under definite rules, it was not possible to set up separate places of worship, however much idol-worship might be practised in secret. But after the separation of the two tribes and a half in the land east of Jordan, when the people were now about to be scattered over a wide tract of country, then it was needful to make this commandment stringent. Gerl. If Deuteronomy has a single prominent feature, it is the emphasis it lays on the place of worship for Israel—that it is to be one, the one which the Lord their God should choose for them. Nearly twenty times within the space of a few chapters this matter is insisted on, without deviation in form or relaxation from its iron firmness of command. “Unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither shalt thou come” (12 : 5). The cultus of God was to be confined to a central shrine. The idolatrous and deadly worship on the “heights” was to be relentlessly rooted out. E. C. B.—In the sixteenth chapter of Deuteronomy the prohibition against observing these great feasts, the three annual epochs in the sacred year of the Jew, at home and in private, is reiterated in a variety of words no less than six times in the first sixteen verses. Espin. The great Lawgiver speaks no longer in the brief and formal language of a statute, but in that of earnest exhortation and admonition. Foreseeing the dangers that would arise from their being ensnared into attendance at the idolatrous temples of the Canaanites, he directs his utmost urgency to this source of their most immediate peril, reiterating his cautions upon this point again and again, and especially enjoining it upon them to present all their sacrifices and observe all their feasts at the place which the LORD would choose, after he had given them rest in the land which they were going in to possess. W. H. G.—There is not any one particular precept in all the Law of Moses so largely pressed and inculcated as this, by which they are all tied to bring their sacrifices to that one altar which was set up in the court of the tabernacle, and there to perform all the rituals of their religion ; for as to moral services, then, no doubt, as now, men might pray everywhere, as they did in their synagogues. The command to do this, and the prohibition of the contrary, are here repeated again and again, as we teach children : and yet we are sure that there is in Scripture no vain repetition ; but all this stress is laid upon it (1) Because of the strange proneness there was in the hearts of the people to idolatry and superstition, and the danger of their being seduced by the many temptations which they would be surrounded with. (2) Because of the great use which the observance of this appointment would be of to them, both to prevent the introducing of corrupt customs into their worship, and to preserve among them unity and brotherly love ; that meeting all in one place, they might continue both of one way and of one heart. (3) Because of the significance of this appointment. They must keep to one place, in token of their belief of those two great truths, which we find together (1 Tim. 2 : 5), That there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man. It not only served to keep up the notion of the unity of the Godhead, but was an intimation to them (though they could not steadfastly discern it) of the one only way of approach to God, and communion with him, in and by the Messiah. H. 5. The text does not import that God would always from the first choose one and the same locality “to put his name there,” but that there would always be a locality so chosen by him ; and that thither the people must bring their sacrifices, and not offer them at their pleasure or convenience elsewhere. Neither does the text forbid the offering of sacrifices to God at other places than the one chosen by him "to put his name there" on proper occasions and by proper authority. Moses himself (ch. 27 : 5, 6) enjoins the erection of a stone altar on Mount Ebal for burnt-offerings to be offered on the day of commination : and we read of sacrifices offered at various places by judges, prophets, kings, and others, and accepted by God. Espin.—The appointment of a central place for national worship, where all the sacrifices were usually to be offered, is one main feature of the history from the pitching of the tabernacle in Shiloh down to the burning of the first temple ; and onward, after the captivity, to the times of the New Testament. The more indefinite promise (Ex. 20 : 24) was not only given before the sanctuary and its altar were built, and before the precept in Lev. 17 : 1-7, but in later times it applied to special and extraordinary sacrifices, as that of Samuel at Ebenezer or Gideon at Ophrah, which were warranted by peculiar circumstances, or by a direct command of God. When God recorded his name in any place, there sacrifice might be offered, while one central place alone for such sacrifices was the general rule. Birks. To this place the tribes were to come and worship together. Thus the unity of God's redeemed people in him would be continually before their eyes. Though the times in the year were not many when the people were thus to meet as one nation and commonwealth, yet they were frequent enough to insure their thoughts turning thereto, either by retrospection or anticipation, from one year's end to another. Here is the germ seed of the doctrine of the unity of God's Church. Many tribes, one redeemed people. And is it not precisely this principle which is brought out in the New Testament, only in far grander form ? (See Rev. 7 ; Eph. 2 ; John 17 ; Rom. 12). Is not the Christian unity a union of many tribes and tongues in one deliverance, and one Deliverer ? C. C. 6,7. The central altar is to gather round it joyful worshippers. Burnt-offering, sacrifice, heave-offering, etc., were to reach their climax in the eating before the Lord the peace-offering, and in the joy which springs from fellowship. This is the purpose of all worship. If joy be not reached, then the worshippers are living below their privileges. Edgar. 8-11. Moses points out that heretofore they had not observed the prescribed order in their worship, because during their migratory life in the wilderness it had been impossible to do so. The whole system was imperfectly acted upon up to the death of Moses, and important parts of it left altogether in abeyance. This consideration must be carefully borne in mind throughout Deuteronomy. It illustrates the necessity for a repetition of very much of the Sinaitic legislation, and suggests the reason why some parts are so urgently reiterated and impressed, while others are left unnoticed. The speaker has in view throughout the state of religion and its observances among his hearers. He warns them in the verses before us that as they were now about to quit their unsettled mode of life, God's purpose of choosing for himself a place to set his name there would be executed, and the whole of the sacred ritual would consequently become obligatory. The rest and safety of Canaan is significantly laid down (verses 10, 11) as the indispensable condition and basis for an entire fulfilment of the Law : the perfection of righteousness coinciding thus with the cessation of wanderings, dangers, and toils. Espin. 10. It is to be noted that the Law in Deuteronomy appointing the one place for sacrificial worship is not absolute and unconditioned. It is here expressly qualified by the condition of the Lord's giving them rest from all their enemies round about. Until this was done, the Law was in abeyance ; so that, if circumstances required, other methods than that which it prescribed of observing the primary and absolutely imperative ordinance of sacrifice might be followed. We find, accordingly, that it was only as it was considered that the Lord had given them rest from their enemies that it was deemed fitting to fix upon a certain place to which the people might repair as to the dwelling-place of Jehovah, to present their worship and offerings. Thus, after the occupation of the land by the Israelites, it was not until the land was subdued before them, and the Lord had given them rest round about, that the congregation of the children of Israel assembled at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there (Josh. 18 : 1 ; 21 : 44 ; 22 : 4). The rest, however, which was then given to them was not destined to be permanent. Times of unsettlement ensued, and at length the sanctuary at Shiloh was everted and the ark of the covenant carried away by hostile invaders ; nor was it till the time of David that it could be said definitively that the Lord had given rest to his people from all their enemies, as he had promised. Then at length the occasion had arrived when a house might be built for the Lord to dwell in ; and David, recognizing this, determined, seeing "the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies," to build a house unto the name of the Lord; and though he was not permitted to carry this into effect, because of the wars in which he had been engaged in the earlier part of his reign, his purpose was approved of by God (2 Sam. 7:1; 1 Kings 8:13). The fact that in the usages of the nation there was this connecting of a time of rest from all enemies with the setting up of a fixed place for the sanctuary, is surely a strong indication that the Law of Deuteronomy was all along known and respected by them; and, at the same time, we may see from this how it was that, pending the arrival of the promised rest, good men were found offering worship and sacrifices elsewhere than at a central sanctuary. That the law of Deuteronomy respecting the offering of sacrifice only at the place which the Lord should appoint was known and reverenced from the earliest times, is placed beyond doubt, not only by the constant references, in the early historical books, to the "house of the Lord" as the place where worship and sacrifice were to be offered, but especially by what is recorded in Josh. 22. The indignation of the people against their brethren who had erected an altar on the border of Jordan before they crossed it to return to their own possession on the eastern side of that river; the earnestness with which the latter hastened to assure the people that they had erected the altar, not to establish an independent worship, but rather that it might stand as a permanent witness that they still adhered to and claimed to have part in Jehovah as their God; and the solemnity with which they disclaimed any intention to rebel against the Lord by building an altar for burnt-offerings, for meal-offerings, or for sacrifices beside the altar of the Lord that was before the tabernacle—all incontestably show that this Law was known and recognized as imperative at the time of the settling of the people in the promised land, W. L. A. 15. The Israelites are here prohibited from sacrificing anywhere else than at the central sanctuary. But with the prohibition a concession is joined, specifically introduced as a concession, that they may slaughter animals for private use at home. The concession points unequivocally back to the Levitical form of the law (17:1-7), which had prohibited the killing of animals at all, as might have been expected in the wilderness, except at the central sanctuary. E. C. B. 18. The worship of God sanctifies the common meal. The recognition of God and his claims allows us to enjoy all the provision of God with thankfulness and content. Every meal reminds us of God, and leads to fellowship with him. In this state of mind excess of every kind becomes impossible, and the amplest enjoyment is not incompatible with vigorous piety. 28. THE WORSHIP OF GOD WAS FRUITFUL IN BLESSING. The design of God in every particular was solely the good of families, that "it may be well with thee, and with thy children." We do well to write this with a diamond pen on memory and heart, that God's claims and man's advantage are identical D. D. God was not limited to these established ordinances in his dealings with his people. His grace is broader than the channels through which it ordinarily flows. Special Divine influences were not restricted to the sanctuary even in the days of Moses (Nu. 11:26-29). And no exposition of the Levitical institutions, which places regularity of ritual observance upon a par with the spirit it was designed to express, can make them tally with the history of Israel, the devout breathings of the Psalmists, or the teachings of the prophets. W. H. G.—It is certain that the spiritual sacrifices we are now to offer are not confined to any one place. Our Saviour has made this clear (John 4:21), and the apostle (1 Tim. 2:8), according to the prophecy, that in every place incense should be offered (Mal. 1:11). We have now no temple or altar that sanctifies the gift, nor does the Gospel unity lie in one place, but in one heart, and the unity of the spirit. Christ is our Altar, and the true Tabernacle (Heb. 8:2; 13:10); in him God dwells among us, and it is in him that our sacrifices are acceptable to God and in him only (1 Pet. 2:5). To set up other mediators, or other altars, or other expiatory sacrifices, is in effect to set up other gods. He is the Centre of unity, in whom all God's Israel meet. H. De. 17:2, 3. The crime here ordained to be punished by death was the worship of the heavenly bodies. Its apparent sublimity made it only the more seductive and dangerous. It was a departure, though at first a very subtle and scarcely recognizable one, from pure monotheism—the beginning of a course of declension which speedily led in Egypt, Phœnicia, Babylonia, India, and most other nations to the grossest abominations. Orr. 4. These are tokens of severity, that a woman as well as a man is to be slain; that the whole people should unite in stoning them; that the evil should be removed from the midst of the land, lest the abomination should continue unpunished. He marks the heinous nature of the offence, by calling it the “transgressing of God’s covenant”; thus affirming that all who go aside unto idols are covenant-breakers. It is not simple impiety which is here punished, but the perfidy whereby true religion is forsaken after men have devoted themselves to God and professed themselves to be of the number of his people. Colo.—Although physical death is no longer to be inflicted and outward stoning is happily unknown, there remains the eternal truth that false worship is death, misconceived worship is loss of soul, and right worship is daily sustenance and the continual enhancement of highest strength. J. P. De. 13:1-18. Temptations to depart from God to be resisted at all costs. Here Israel is told what to do in case of temptation arising to worship false gods. The chapter deals with this one topic. Temptations to depart from God may come (1) from a professed prophet or wonder-worker, or (2) they may arise from the nearest relative or bosom friend, or (3) they may come from a town or city. In either case, the infection is to be “stamped out” at once. Any enticement to idolatry, come whence it may, is not to be tolerated for a moment. The wonder-worker is to be put to death; the friend is to be slain; the city is to be destroyed. C. C. Even when a prophet performs a miracle for the sake of seducing the people into idolatry, they shall not believe him but punish him. This precept is of great importance, because it shows that even in the Old Testament a miracle was only of an introductory and preparatory character, and never was meant in and for itself to work as a sufficient proof of the truth. Every miracle points to something; and if that to which it points is shown by other yet more undoubted signs to be false and mischievous, then the miracle itself is a lying miracle. Therefore the New Testament also warns us against false prophetic spirits. Gerl. Terribly stern is the duty here laid on the person enticed to idolatry. The law is adapted to an age of stern deeds, and to a people living under a stern dispensation. Yet, reflecting on the nature of the crime, on the constitution of the Jewish state, and on the issues to mankind which hung on the slender thread of this one nation’s fidelity, it is difficult to see how it could well have been less stern than it is. Its severity was perhaps its mercy. Note, too, that the criminal could be executed only after formal impeachment, fair trial, and conclusively established guilt. Orr. 11. And all Israel shall hear, and fear.** God doth not punish merely for the sake of punishment. Even his severities are the effects of goodness, and always directed to the advantage either of those who feel them or of others. Secker.—The effect anticipated was this: All Israel shall hear, and fear, and do no more any such wickedness. On God’s side the result would be that he would “turn and show them mercy, and multiply” their numbers. Very clearly was it announced that this judicial action was the action of God, and that righteous and obedient Hebrews were the officers of Jehovah. D. D. De. 13:3, 4. “The LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and cleave unto him.” These words present the supreme reason and sanction for the commands of this thirteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, as they furnish the one sublime and sufficient basis for all Divine commands and prohibitions. B.—“Ye shall walk after the Lord” embodies New Testament teaching as well as Old. Absolute loyalty to Christ should be the governing principle of life. The Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Christ of the New. He appeals to us by righteousness, love, hope, fear. Temptations to desert Christ’s standard may pour in upon us from various quarters. Seductions either to the false in faith or the corrupt in practice may come from those near and dear to us. These temptations are to be withstood at all costs. How earnestly should we pray that we may be kept faithful to our dear Lord in heaven! How lovingly should we warn others, lest they swerve from their fealty to him! C. C. # Magical Arts and Divination. Israel, being under a theocracy, did not need an earthly king; but neither was this thereby precluded, provided the king chosen by the people were one whom Jehovah would approve as his vicegerent. In case, then, of their coming to desire to have a king over them like the nations around them, Moses gives instructions here as to the choice of a king, and as to the duties and obligations resting upon those who might be elevated to that office. The form in which these are conveyed clearly indicates that, at the time this was uttered, the existence of a king in Israel was contemplated as only a distant possibility. Moses foresaw that the people would wish to be as the nations around them— governed by a king—and he legislates accord- ingly, without approving of that wish. W. L. A. —No sanction nor recommendation was indi- cated; on the contrary, when the popular clamor had effected that constitutional change on the Theocracy by the appointment of a king, the Divine disapproval was expressed in the most unequivocal terms (1 Sam. 8:7). Permission at length was granted, God reserving to himself the nomination of the family and the person who should be elevated to the regal dignity. Jamieson. The law of the king, as we find it recorded in Deuteronomy, is, on its face, framed in an- ticipation of a juncture to arise. It looks for- ward to a period when the Canaanites shall have been dispossessed, their land apportioned, and Israel definitely settled in it. The demand for a king would then arise. It would come from the people. Permission is granted to comply with this demand conditionally, and directions given in detail concerning the manner of the sovereign's choice, the title he shall bear, the government of his household, his income, his relative position among his brethren, the suc- cession, and other matters, in a way to set him wholly apart from any contemporaneous kings, so, indeed, as to show that he was to be a king under the peculiar conditions of a government that must still be recognized, as in the end, theocratic. The law, in short, is Mosaic in the finest shading of its phraseology. It is true that some temptations and evil practices of kings in general—in the event proving to be also those of later Israelitish kings, like Solomon—seem to have been directly in mind throughout and guarded against. With the knowledge of what the kings of Egypt and Canaan were, what less could have been expected of such a man as Moses, to say nothing of the fact that our book represents him as a prophet? E. C. B. The inspired foresight of this legislator con- templated the future existence of a constitutional monarch. Moses perceived that even his perfect government would weary the inconstancy of man, and that mortal passions would corrupt even a Divine institution. Moses, with pres- cient wisdom, limited the power intrusted into the hands of royalty, and even prescribed a daily task to the future sovereign. The legisla- tor rendered the Jewish king the most guileless man in his dominions. The sovereign was to be elected from among their own brethren; no stranger was to sit on the throne of Israel. A foreigner might change the constitution, or raise up a faction in direct opposition to the national interest. The king was not to multiply horses; a force of cavalry, in a land where horses are scarce, might become a standing army endangering their liberties, or might transfer the seat of dominion. It is par- ticularly specified that the Jewish monarch shall never return with his people into Egypt: "Ye shall henceforth return no more that way." Egypt, for the Israelites at the Mosaic period, was their Father-land; unwilling exiles, their human hearts, at each remove in the lone des- ert, but dragged a lengthening chain, while they hankered after their home delights, "the fat onions and the flesh pots." Judaism could only exist in a constant triumph over idolatry. The Jewish monarch was not to have many wives, nor was he to accumulate great treasure; so early were women and wealth dreaded as the corrupters of royalty. With his own hand he was to transcribe the laws into a volume from the roll which was kept before the priests, "that his heart be not lifted up among his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left." There is no instance of a Jewish king making a new law; "the statutes and the judgments," unlike those of other nations, were not laid up in the dusty archives of a court of judicature, or subjected to the caprice of the executive power; they were deposited in the memories of the priests and in the hearts of the people; the laws were supreme. Had the constitutional King of Israel struck into the road of arbitrary power, he would have been arrested by the written voice of heaven—the text placed before his eyes; for the Divine institution of the Mosaic Law is the fundamental principle of Judaism. A tyrant would have been an atheist. D'Israeli. 15. One from among thy brethren. The Hebrew sovereign was to be a native Hebrew, to be elected from his brethren. A foreigner might change the constitution, or raise up a faction in opposition to the national interest. Foreigners, too, would be inclined to the intro- duction of idolatry. 16. The Hebrew king was not to multiply horses. As the Israelites made no use of horses in agriculture, and but little as beasts of bur- den, employing for these purposes oxen and asses, and as they made most of their journeys on foot, and of course did not need them for travelling, this must be understood as a prohibi- tion against maintaining a strong force of cav- alry. For defence cavalry was unnecessary. On the west Palestine had the sea. On the north, its barrier was a range of lofty and almost impassable mountains, where a mounted soldiery would be of little use. To the east and south it was bounded by vast deserts. The only object, therefore, for which an Israelitish sovereign could desire to keep any considerable force of this description, would be to make foreign conquests. But it was against the whole scope of the Mosaic Law, nay, subversive of its fundamental purpose, that the Hebrews should be conquerors of foreign countries and their king a universal monarch. And as the keeping of a strong body of horse could hardly fail to engender a spirit of foreign conquest, it was expressly interdicted to the head of the State. The fact that Moses forbade the use of this species of force is a proof that he designed his people for peaceful pursuits, and not for military glory. But Moses had another motive for his prohibition of cavalry. The political equality of all the citizens, as we have seen under a former head, was a darling object with him. But in all ancient nations, where cavalry was employed, the horsemen, being necessarily the wealthier members of the community, became also the more powerful. The system threw the chief political power into the hands of a few rich citizens, who could afford to mount and bring into the field themselves and their dependents. This naturally tended to the establishment of monarchical and aristocratical governments. And on this account, as well as on account of his repugnance to an aggressive military policy, Moses excluded a mounted soldiery from the forces of the republic. It is remarkable how speedily the substitution of the monarchical for the republican form of polity led to the introduction and use of cavalry in the Israelitish armies. E. C. W.—Further, the multiplying of horses is prohibited, because this would bring Israel into intercourse and friendly relations with Egypt, and might tend to their going back to that country from which they had been so marvellously delivered; a prohibition which could only have been given at an early stage in the history of the people, for at a later period, after they had been well established in Canasan, such a prohibition for such a reason would have been simply ridiculous. W. L. A. 16. Their dark experience of Egyptian bondage was never to be repeated. They should return that way no more. The only course open to them was to go onward to the realization of their destiny as a free people, for the gate behind them was closed, never to be opened again. The text may naturally be regarded as God's voice to his emancipated host, saying, "No retreat!" C. C. 17. The Israelitish sovereign was still further forbidden to marry many wives; so early were women dreaded as the corrupters of royalty. I look upon this law as a prohibition against keeping a numerous harem or a state seraglio—that inseparable accompaniment of eastern despotism. Besides the inherent tendency of the thing to render kings effeminate, and dissolve their hearts in indolence and pleasure, there was a special reason against it in the Israelitish polity. It is incident to the keeping of a harem as a matter of royal state, that the monarch seek out and collect together the most beautiful women of all nations. But all other nations at that time were idolaters. Moses dreaded the influence of heathen beauties upon the religious principles and character of the Hebrew kings. He feared that it would lead to the introduction and practice of idolatry. How reasonable his fears were, the history of Solomon affords a memorable and melancholy proof. His harem contained a thousand women, many of whom were Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites, besides the daughter of Pharaoh; "strange women." His wives turned away his heart after other gods. He appears to have built temples for them all, and himself joined in paying Divine honors to Ashtoreth, and Milcom, and Chemosh, and Molech. The conduct of Solomon places in a very striking light the wisdom of this statute, at the same time that it shows that none of the laws of Moses was less observed than this. Neither multiply silver and gold. The hoarding up of large treasures by the sovereign tends to obstruct the circulation of money, discourage industry, and impoverish his subjects. The Israelitish king, observes Lewis, "was allowed to lay up money in the treasury at the temple for the occasions of the State, but was forbidden to fill his own coffers for his private interest, lest he should exact more of his subjects than they were able to bear." There is undoubtedly a wide and obvious difference between these two sorts of treasure. That laid up in the public treasury the king could not use without the consent of the other branches of the government. Of course he could not pervert it to purposes of tyranny, on pretence of applying it to the public service. E. C. W. 18-20. He shall write him a copy of this Law in a book. The original scroll of the ancient Scriptures was deposited in the sanctuary under the strict custody of the priests (see on ch. 31:26; 2 Kings 22:8). Each monarch on his accession was to be furnished with a true and faithful copy, which he was to keep constantly beside him and daily peruse it, that his character and sentiments being cast into its sanctifying mould he might discharge his royal functions in the spirit of faith and piety, of humility and a love of righteousness. Jamieson. — Having a Bible by him, he must read therein all the days of his life (verse 19). It is not enough to have Bibles, but we must use them, use them daily, as the duty and necessity of every day require: our souls must have their constant meals of that manna; and if well digested, it will be true nourishment and strength to them. As the body is receiving benefit by its food continually, so is the soul by the Word of God, if it meditate therein day and night (Ps. 1 : 2). And we must persevere in the use of the written Word of God as long as we live. Christ's scholars never learn above their Bibles, but will have a constant occasion for them, till they come to that world where knowledge and love will both be made perfect. H. The Law, and not the king's own will and pleasure, was to be the rule of his administration. This point was made very prominent in the statute, as the reader will perceive by recurring to it. The king was required to make, or cause to be made, an accurate transcript of the Law out of the book, which was before the priests the Levites—that is, probably, the autograph, kept in the tabernacle. This he must have with him continually, and read therein all the days of his life, to the end that he might learn to keep all the words of this Law and these statutes, to do them. He might not "turn aside from the commandment (the constitution and the laws) to the right hand or to the left." From this we see that the laws were supreme. The kings were as much bound to observe them as the private citizens. They had no power to make or repeal a single statute. We have here a perfect exemplification of a government of laws. The constitutional King of Israel could not assume and exercise arbitrary power without first trampling under foot the fundamental law of the State. Moses made him simply the first citizen. He aimed also at making him the wisest, the purest, and the best. The king must be gracious and condescending toward his subjects. His heart must not be lifted up. He must look upon his people not only as equals but as brethren. We find the best kings cherishing this sentiment and acting upon it. When David addressed the States-general, he rose before them and used this affectionate compellation: "Hear me, my brethren, and my people" (1 Ch. 28 : 2). All the above conditions being observed by him whom the Israelites should choose for their king, the throne was to be hereditary in his family. This is plain from the concluding words of the statute: "To the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel." Moses enjoins it upon the king to keep the laws, that he and his posterity may long fill the throne. But it is quite as important to observe that although the sceptre was hereditary it was not inalienable. It might be taken from one family and given to another by the concurrent will of Jehovah and the Hebrew people. Nay, it certainly would be thus transferred if the king failed to govern according to the laws. Thus we perceive that the Israelitish kings were not absolute and unlimited sovereigns; they were constitutional monarchs. Besides this original and fundamental law, a special capitulation was sworn to by the kings of Israel. The compact between Saul and the Hebrew people, made when he was chosen to the royal dignity, was drawn up by Samuel. That writing, in which doubtless were specified the rights of the king, was carefully deposited in the sanctuary. Of its contents the Bible does not inform us; but there can be no doubt that the limitations of the royal power fixed by it were numerous and important. E. C. W. The people of Samuel's time, it is evident, knew of the Law; they do not overlook the advantage they have in it in the appeal they make. They use its language almost word for word in Hebrew, "make us a king to judge us like all the nations" (1 Sam. 8 : 5). And it has been noticed that the whole context is saturated with Deuteronomic expressions and ideas. E. C. B. — The relationship between Samuel's account of the choice of a king and the statements in Deuteronomy is so close that out of one hundred verses in the story told by Samuel, nearly one half borrow the words and thoughts of Deuteronomy. Among scholars no doubt whatever is entertained of the indebtedness of the writer in Samuel to the writer of Deuteronomy. Sime. This Law given to the kings of Israel, considered together with the history of the nation, forms a very strong presumption for the Divine original of the Law of Moses. For supposing Moses to be a mere human legislator, like Solon or Lycurgus, what could tempt him to forbid the princes of his country the use of horses and chariots for their defence? Can it be supposed that the history of many ages, which relates to the affairs not only of the princes of Israel but of other contemporary kings, is all forged, and that merely to show an agreement between the history and this particular law? Or how shall we account for the conduct of the prophets who saw the people ruined, and instead of reproaching them with cowardice and a neglect of their necessary defence, reproach them with having been too strong, too powerful in horses and horsemen? These appearances can never be accounted for by any human contrivance, and they plainly show that the hand of God was in this thing from the beginning to the end. Bp. Sherlock. Ex. 13 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, what- 2 soever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. 11 And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanite, as he sware 12 unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, that thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the womb, and every firstling which thou hast that cometh of a beast; the males 13 shall be the LORD's. And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck; and all the firstborn of man among thy 14 sons shalt thou redeem. And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out 15 from Egypt, from the house of bondage: and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the womb, being 16 males; but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. And it shall be for a sign upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt. De. 15 19 All the firstling males that are born of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thine ox, nor shear 20 the firstling of thy flock. Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God year by year in the place 21 which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household. And if it have any blemish, as if it be lame or blind, any ill blemish whatsoever, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God. 22 Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle, 23 and as the hart. Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it out upon the ground as water. Ex. 22 29 Thou shalt not delay to offer of the abundance of thy fruits, and of thy liquors. 23 19 The first of the firstfruits of thy ground thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. No. 15 17 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you, then it shall be, that, when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave offering unto the LORD. Of the first of your dough ye shall offer up a cake for an heave offering: as ye do the heave offering of the threshing-floor, so shall ye heave it. Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD an heave offering throughout your generations. Lev. 27 30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's: it is holy unto the LORD. And if a man will redeem aught of his tithe, he shall add unto it the fifth part thereof. And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD. He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed. These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai. De. 14 22 Thou shalt surely tithe all the increase of thy seed, that which cometh forth of the field year by year. And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herd and of thy flock; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always. And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God shall bless thee: then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt bestow the money for whatsoever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul asketh of thee, and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God: and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thine household: and the Levite that is within thy gates, thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee. At the end of every three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase in the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: and the Levite, because he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest. The burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, in which the unity of the soul with God is expressed, find their parallels in the gifts, the firstlings, the first-born, the tithes, the shewbread, the eternal fire on the altar of burnt-offering, the daily and festal burning of incense, the washings before every sacred act of prayer or sacrifice, and in the vows of the Nazarite and the Rechabite; in all these things the desire is expressed to authenticate by outward acts the readiness to surrender one's self unreservedly to God. Tholuck. EFFERING OF FIRST-BORN OF MAN AND BEAST. Ex. 13:1, 2, 11-16; 22:29, 30; 34:19, 20. Lev. 27:26. De. 15:19, 20. 2. Sanctify unto me all the first-born.** To sanctify, kadesh, signifies to consecrate, separate, and set apart a thing or person from all secular purposes, to some religious use. A. C.—As a permanent memorial of God's having graciously spared them in Egypt, every first-born male, both among men and cattle, was henceforward by the Divine command to Moses to be declared holy—i.e., was to be separated from others, and devoted to God and to his service. They were thus to be put into his possession, because by sparing them in Egypt he had shown that they belonged to him. C. G. B. We see throughout the patriarchal period a prominence given to the right of the first-born, who received a double inheritance and authority over the family. The reason for this was chiefly founded on the great importance attached in ancient times to the keeping together of families, the transmission of their traditions, the maintenance of discipline and morality, of steadfastness and community. This family relationship had clearly continued in Egypt, and preserved Israel from disruption. It was in after times one of the foundation-stones of the Israelitish political constitution. Among the people of God the first born was the head, the centre of unity in the family, and so God's representative. After the judgment on the Egyptian first-born, Israel was now in a double way God's peculiar possession. He had spared them of his mercy, as he had punished the Egyptians. As a thank-offering were all the first-born to be given up to him. This sacrifice consisted in the perfect surrender to the service of the Lord; in which respect the tribe of Levi in later times stood in the place of the first-born (Nu. 3:13), and the first-born were hence under an obligation to tax themselves for its support; at the same time the first-born was yet further released by an express offering. In all this we perceive a type of him who is "the first-born of every creature" (Col. 1:15); who gave himself to God by the sacrifice of his own will once for all, for the sanctification of all, and not merely as a typical service. His death became at the same time the effectual sin-offering for men (cf. Heb. 10:5-10). This is the deep significance of the Law before us, by means of which Moses was led to a clearer understanding of what took place before his eyes. Gerl. The earliest birth is here regarded as the representative of all the births; so that the dedication of the whole family was involved in that of the first-born. The difference between the first-born of Israel and the first-born of Egypt was this: the Egyptians refused to render to Jehovah that which was due and continued most obstinately to resist his will; Israel did not draw back from the dedication required, and covered their previous omissions by the atoning blood of the sacrificial lamb. Now the Law of the kingdom of God is, that everything which will not voluntarily consecrate itself to the Lord, for the purpose of receiving life and blessedness through this self-dedication, is compulsorily dedicated in such a manner as to receive judgment and condemnation. The slaughter of the first born of the Egyptians is therefore to be regarded as of the nature of a ban, an involuntary, compulsory, dedication. But Israel's self-dedication to Jehovah had hitherto been insufficient, and hence the necessity for the expiatory sacrifice to cover the defects. The necessary complement of reconciliation is sanctification. By virtue of the atoning paschal blood the first-born of Israel had been spared; but if they were to continue to be thus spared, the sanctification of the first-born must follow. And as the first-born of Egypt represented the entire nation and in their fate the whole people were subjected to a compulsory dedication; so was the voluntary dedication of the whole nation of Israel set forth in the sanctification of the Israelitish first-born. K. Observe that this order for the consecration of the first-born, which lies at the foundation of the whole system of provision for the ministry and ordinances of religion subsequently, grows immediately out of and connects with the Passover covenant and its blessings. "The first-born is mine," saith Jehovah. Of course, all things are his, of right, by creation. But this call for the consecration of the first-born is founded upon an act of redemption—the preservation of the first-born of Israel in the blood-sprinkled houses when the first-born of Egypt were slain. It was, therefore, to be a perpetual reminder of this work of redemption, and in token of their gratitude for it this portion was to be devoted to God as his peculiar portion, and if reappropriated by themselves it must be redeemed by an equivalent. When, subsequently, the new system of religious worship was formally inaugurated, a whole tribe—the tribe of Levi—was taken as a substitute for the first-born of every family, so that thus a ministry was provided. But the consecration of the firstlings of animals was still required, together with the tithe of one tenth of the produce of the land for the maintenance of religion. The whole system subsequently adopted had, however, its original root in this ordinance of consecration of the first-born. Thus it will be perceived that the provision made for the support of religious ordinances even in the Old Testament, though, as to its subsequent form it was represented by the consecration of a whole tribe to religion, and of a tenth of the income of the land for its maintenance, was, in principle and in the ground of it, the same as under the New Testament. The consecration of one's self to the redeeming Christ involves the consecration of all that is his so far as it is needed to promote the honor and advancement of Christ's cause. And thus in the ancient Church was developed the principle laid down by Christ that the test to determine the measure of one's love to God, and how high he stands in our affections, is how much we are willing to part with of what we love best in this world. The Church of Pentecost, whose members no longer "called anything their own" as against the needs of the cause of God, was indeed a fit successor to the newly-redeemed Church of the Passover in Egypt. And fitting and beautiful, as the title of a church which had such an origin to its ministry and ordinances, is that title "the Church of the first-born," and Christ himself the "first-born of many brethren." S. R. Ex. 13 17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near ; for God said, Lest 18 peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt : but God led the people about, by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea : and the chil- 19 dren of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him : for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will 20 surely visit you ; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilder- 21 ness. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way ; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light ; that they might go by day 22 and by night : the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, departed not from before the people. 14 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that 2 they turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before 3. Baal-zephon : over against it shall ye encamp by the sea. And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them 4 in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he shall follow after them ; and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host ; and the Egyptians shall know that I 5 am the LORD. And they did so. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people were fled : and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from 6 serving us ? And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him : and he 7 took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all 8 of them. And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel : for the children of Israel went out with an high 9 hand. And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon. Nu. 33 6 And they journeyed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of 7 the wilderness. And they journeyed from Etham, and turned back unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon : and they pitched before Migdol. Notwithstanding the difficulty of exactly identifying localities after an interval measured by thousands of years, it is, on the whole, surprising to see how near an approach can be made to a determination of the route by which Israel went up out of Egypt. The exceptional configuration and condition of the country are, and always have been, such as to guide and restrict the movements of large companies ; and the ascertainment of a few places goes far toward settling the whole line of march. The Wady Tumilat is a narrow fertile strip lying some thirty-five miles north of the latitude of Cairo, and extending from the Nile delta to the eastern edge of Egypt. A little north of Cairo the two limestone ridges that shut in the Nile break down and swing off to the northeast and the northwest respectively, making room for the delta. The northeastern line, greatly reduced in height, opens at a place nearly east of Zagazig, and lets a narrow tapering valley or depression of surface shoot directly east, almost to Birket Timsah, the Crocodile Lake. It is the Wady Tumilat. Goshen unquestionably included Wady Tumilat, the valley of the modern canal and railway. Along this valley ran the ancient canal of the time of the exodus, though not then, as afterward, extended to the Red Sea. From Zagazig the railway runs almost due east, soon entering and following Wady Tumilat. For a long distance the valley seemed the most productive part of Egypt that I had seen. In its wider parts it may be two miles or more in breadth, growing steadily narrower, till be-  fore reaching Ismailia, on the Crocodile Lake (Timsah) (which is by rail forty-seven miles east of Zagazig), it entirely fades out. The railway and the Sweet Water Canal run through its entire length. Bartlett. 13:17. God led them not by the way of the Philistines. The reason is here given in advance for the change in their route indicated in the emphatic command to Moses (14:1, 2). B. 18. The Way of the Wilderness by the Red Sea, or "The Way of the Red Sea," was the road which swept out of Egypt, across the wilderness between the two arms of the Red Sea, from the head of the Gulf of Suez to the head of the Gulf of Akabah. It is today the great Hajj route from Egypt toward Mecca. It is frequently referred to in the narrative of the exodus and wanderings. H. C. T. To say nothing of the Divine purposes relative to the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, and the humbling and proving of the Israelites by a protracted sojourn in the wilderness, they could not enter Canaan by the direct route without encountering the Philistines, who then occupied all its southern borders. These Philistines were a powerful and warlike nation, between whom and the Israelites there seems to have been an ancient grudge existing from a circumstance mentioned 1 Chron. 7:21, 22. To avoid, therefore, the perils of battle, Moses is directed to take another far more circuitous and difficult route "by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea." Moses was directed in this, for the circumstances clearly evince that he could have been no self-appointed lawgiver, leading forth the Israelites from Egypt of his own motion, but that he all along acted under Divine dictation and control. Bush. Their spirits were broken with slavery; the Philistines were formidable enemies, too fierce to be encountered by raw recruits; it was more suitable that they should be prepared for the wars of Canaan, by experiencing the difficulties of the wilderness. God proportions his people's trials to their strength, and will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able. He tried their faith and patience and dependence upon God, and inured them to the hardships of the wilderness, and so instructed them. Every stage had something in it that was instructive; even when he chastened them, he thereby taught them out of his Law. It is said (Ps. 107 : 7) that he led them forth by the right way; and yet here, that he led them about; for God always leads his people the right way, however to us it may seem about; so that the farthest way about proves, if not the nearest way, yet the best way home to Canaan. How God instructed them is explained long after (Neh. 9 : 13), Thou gavest them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments; and especially (verse 20), Thou gavest them also thy good Spirit to instruct them; and he instructs effectually. We may well imagine how unfit that people had been for Canaan, had they not first gone through the discipline of the wilderness. H. In this wilderness route there were great purposes to be accomplished in the moral training and culture of the nation and in the manifestations of the God of their fathers before their eyes. That way lay the passage of the Red Sea which God provided as the burial-place for the proud hosts of Pharaoh; that way lay Sinai—those grand mountain cliffs which God was to shake with his thunders and invest with the smoke and the flame of his glorious presence, that the Law might be written in letters of fire upon the souls of the whole people; that way lay the long, breadless, waterless route of almost forty years wandering and sojourning in which the Lord fed the people with angels' food—bread from the lower heavens—the manna of the desert, and with water once and again from smitten rocks, flowing in dry places as a river—that they might learn the power and the love of their God; that way lay also their long tuition and training into their religious system—a wonderful arrangement of sacrifices and ordinances for which the lifetime of a generation was scarcely too long. All these great results and yet others were contemplated and provided for in this choice of the wilderness route as their way to the land of Canaan. H. C According to the course of the country, Moses might have marched the people a much shorter way, and, supported by the power of God, have taken possession of the land of Canaan at once; but such rapid proceedings would not have served the purpose for which the children of Israel were separated from all other nations. It is evident, from Moses's supposing that they would ask the name of the God of their fathers, that they had become polytheists during their residence in Egypt. Their making and worshipping of the golden calf is a proof of the strength of their attachment to the idolatry of their late masters; and the readiness with which they suffered themselves to be seduced by the daughters of Moab, indicated their proneness to idolatry of every kind. God drew them, as he says himself (Hos. 11 : 4), "With the cords of a man, and bands of love," that, by appeals made to their understandings and their affections, they might see reason to become attached to him and habituated to his worship; but this could be done only by detaining them in the wilderness till their religious principles should be fixed and their trust in him and attachment to his service be strengthened into habit by numerous displays of goodness and power, such as were never vouchsafed to any other people. Had they been carried to Canaan by the shortest way and settled there at once by the extermination of the seven nations, nothing would ever have been heard, either by them or by us, of the Angel of God's Presence visibly preceding them; nothing of his dividing the sea to facilitate their passage; nothing of his overwhelming their enemies in those very floods, which to them were a kind of wall on each side; nothing of his drawing out rivers of water from the stony rock; nothing of his (Ps. 78 : 24), "sending down manna upon them, and giving them food from heaven;" nothing of his "raining flesh, as thick as dust, and feathered fowls, like as the sand of the sea," nothing of his amazing descent upon Mount Sinai, when, in the lofty words of the Psalmist (Ps. 18 : 9, etc.), "he bowed the heavens, and came down, and it was dark under his feet; he rode upon the cherubims, and did fly; he came flying upon the wings of the wind; he made darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him with dark water, and thick clouds to cover him: There went a smoke out of his presence, hailstones, and coals of fire, so that the earth trembled and quaked; the very foundations also of the hills shook, and were removed." The wilderness, in short, was the scene which God had made choice of for the display of his almighty power and goodness: there it was that he laid bare his arm, as he calls it, to the Israelites; that every day he took care of their meat and drink and clothing; and had he not detained them there so long, he had not been so kind. It may be considered further, that, before this people were to be admitted into the possession of the inheritance which God had promised them, all matters were to be adjusted between him and them; and to this purpose laws were to be given, ordinances instituted, and covenants sealed. Stackhouse. In the sacred story there are three great typical lands: Egypt, Arabia, Canaan. Egypt is the Land of Bondage; Arabia is the Land of Training; Canaan is the Land of Rest. He who would pass from Egypt to Canaan must needs go through Arabia. It was into Arabia that Moses was led, in his training for his work as leader and lawgiver, after his dwelling in Egypt. Elijah the prophet had his training lessons there (1 Kings 19:1-18). And thither was Paul sent in preparation for his work as the apostle to the Gentiles (Gal. 1:17). H. C. T. 19. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. Nothing in all Joseph's life showed his heart so plainly as the directions he left at his death. After a long life spent in their service, he so loved his kindred and had such faith in his God that he thought only of how he could best make even his dead body serve his people and glorify God. It was not merely a desire to be buried with his fathers; for all Egypt would have united with his kindred in carrying him thither. They had thus carried Jacob; still more willingly would they have heeded the wish of their great statesman who for eighty years had governed Egypt so wisely and so well. But he would serve his people and honor his God with his dead body. A long life of service did not satisfy him so long as there was aught he could do. He believed God would visit the people and lead them out of Egypt. But the time might be long and their faith fail as they waited. Nothing he could say or do would so keep the coming exodus in their minds as to leave his bones among them unburied, waiting to be carried up from hence. Nothing would serve so effectually to keep in their minds and hearts the wonderful story of God's dealings with Joseph himself: his rescue from the pit and from the dungeon, and his deliverance of his father's family from the famine. Year after year, as they march back and forth through the desert, while slowly the condemned generation died out among them, that coffin is borne on by his descendants. Those who bore it on that night-march from Egypt had died, and their sons, who stood looking upon it then with wondering eyes, had taken their place. And still they wandered in the desert, and still no burial-place was found for Joseph. But, as it had done in Egypt, that coffin strengthens their faith in their desert march. Does despondency seize upon some son of Manasseh, and does he say gloomily to his comrade, "We shall all perish in this wilderness; it would have been better to have remained in Egypt, for none of us will ever reach the land of Abraham?"—one look toward that body waiting there, and which had waited so long, would silence him. If Joseph had such faith so long ago, why should his children doubt? That coffin stood a silent pledge that the wanderings should cease and they rest in the land promised to their fathers. It preached to them not only faith but patience. Why should they be weary of these few years, when Joseph had waited for burial through centuries? Hom. Rev. 21. The Lord went before them. That by the Lord here is meant the Lord Jesus, we have the authority of Paul to believe (1 Cor. 10:9). It was He whose spirit they tempted in the wilderness, for it was He who led them through the desert to the promised rest. In a pillar of cloud—of fire. This pillar or column which appeared as a cloud by day, and a fire by night, was the symbol of the Divine presence, the Shekinah or Divine dwelling-place, and was the continual proof of the presence and protection of GOD. A. C.—It was manifestly the visible presence of Jehovah with his people. It was to be both a guide to them in all their wanderings, a shelter in the day from the blazing sun of the desert, and at night a light to illuminate the encampment; as a protector to flame forth against their enemies, or on some special occasions, as upon the doomed violators of his covenant, in the way of executing the wrath of Jehovah against offenders. As to the form and structure and outward appearance of this remarkable symbol, we are led to conceive of it as a majestic column, with base perhaps broad enough to shade the whole camp of Israel from the sun, which must have been six or eight miles square. By day it was an opaque body, by night the ineffable brightness from within shone through the encircling opaque cloud. This remarkable pillar of cloud and of fire is spoken of as the Angel of Jehovah (Ex. 23:20-23); as the glory of the Lord whose sight was like devouring fire (Ex. 24:17). So in De. 1:32, 33: "The Lord, your God, went in your way before you to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night to show you by which way ye should go, and in a cloud by day." According to the teaching of these passages, this cloud-fire pillar was to Israel the Angel Jehovah of the nation, and they looked upon that sublime and awful column as the visible embodiment of their ever-present God looking out from it upon them, and from whom the most secret action could not be hid. It was also their oracle for the time—their Shekinah, or visible glory. On occasion it rose from their camp and ascended to the summit with attendant lightnings and thunders; or again descended from Sinai and stood over the newly-erected tabernacle, where God talked with Moses and delivered all the precepts of the Levitical Law. In short, this was the symbol of the Divine presence with his people, and as a theophecy typified the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus "the brightness of the Father's glory." S. R. This inwrapped inner splendor is more appropriately termed "the Glory of the Lord;" and this "Glory" is said to have appeared in the daytime, when God would express his displeasure on account of the people's transgressions, or when he would strike them with a trembling awe of his majesty, as at the giving of the Law from Sinai. In like manner, when the two sons of Aaron, Nabab and Abihu, offended by strange fire in their offerings, a fatal flash from the cloudy pillar instantaneously extinguished their lives. We cannot doubt, therefore, that this majestic pillar of cloud was intended to serve as the Shekinah, or visible representative of Jehovah, dwelling in the midst of the chosen people. The Divine nature—that is, the Divine power, efficacy, authority, majesty, and omniscience, would be associated with the external visible symbol. To all practical purposes, therefore, this cloudy pillar was to them the "Angel Jehovah," CHRIST, the God of their nation, and they were to look up to that sublime and awful column as a visible embodiment of their covenant God, as an ever-present witness, from whom not even their slightest word or deed could be hidden. This view of the cloudy pillar as a kind of watch-tower of the Almighty, an aerial Mizpeh, or "place of espial," is expressly recognized in the remarkable passage (Ex. 14:24, 25). Bush. In each of the aspects which this pillar assumed, we find the corresponding feature most fully verified in Christ. He is the light of men. The glory of the Father shines forth in him as full of grace and truth. He alone has revealed the Father, and can give the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Therefore he is the Word or Revealer of God, the effulgence of his glory. And while merciful and compassionate in the last degree to sinners—the very personification of love—he yet has eyes like a flame of fire, and feet as of burning brass; and he walks amid the golden candlesticks, as he did in the camp of Israel, to bring to light the hidden works of darkness, and cause his indignation to smoke against the hypocrites. P. F. Christ was with the Church in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:9). Now their king passed before them, even the Lord on the head of them (Mic. 2:13). Those whom God brings into a wilderness, he will not leave nor lose there, but will take care to lead them through it. They needed not to fear missing their way who were thus led, or being lost who were thus directed; they needed not to fear being benighted who were thus illuminated, nor being robbed who were thus protected. They who make the glory of God their end and the Word of God their rule, the Spirit of God the guide of their affections and the providence of God the guide of their affairs, may be confident that the Lord goes before them, as truly as he went before Israel in the wilderness, though not so sensibly; we must live by faith. H. Nothing less than an identification of Christ with the "Jehovah" or the oracular Presence, the Shekinah, of the Old Testament was manifest in that overwhelming display of which John, Peter, and James were eye-witnesses on the Mount of Transfiguration, when there was a temporary laying aside of the veil of his flesh, the cloud of his human nature, and a transient disclosure of the indwelling Shekinah, the glory of his Godhead. This was a preintimation to the senses of that ineffable light and splendor in which he will appear when he comes with the retinue of his saints to be the luminary of the New Jerusalem, which is to come down from God out of heaven. The whole scene seems to have been intended to afford a demonstration to the senses of the substantial identity of the person of the incarnate Redeemer with the manifested Jehovah of the Jewish dispensation. Consequently, whatever of essential divinity is indicated by the title "Jehovah," it is unquestionably to be considered as belonging to Christ. Bush. To lead them the way. The custom of guiding caravans by means of smoke and light is referred to by many authors. Curtius tells of Alexander the Great employing this method in his campaigns. A beacon or cresset on a lofty pole before his headquarters pavilion could be seen by all from near and far; and it was a guide to all. "Fire was to be the signal by night; smoke by day." "We cannot but acknowledge," says Kurtz, "that in the pillar of cloud and of fire, in which Jehovah himself accompanied and conducted his people, there was some reference to the ordinary caravan-fire, which served as a guide as well as a signal of encampment and departure to the caravans and armies of the East. For in the design and form of the two phenomena we can trace exactly the same features; the difference being that the one was a merely natural arrangement, which answered its purpose but very imperfectly and was exceedingly insignificant in its character, while the other was a supernatural phenomenon, beyond all comparison more splendid and magnificent in its form, which not only served as a signal of encampment and departure, and led the way in an incomparably superior manner, but was also made to answer far greater and more glorious ends." Trumbull. The pillar of fire and cloud had also certain offices to perform to the Israelites. These were for guidance and protection. It was by this that the Lord directed their course through the dreary and trackless waste which lay between Egypt and Canaan, showing them when to set forth, in what direction to proceed, where to abide, and also affording light to their steps when the journey was by night. In addition to these benefits, the pillar also served as a shade from the heat of a scorching sun; and on one occasion at least, when the Israelites were closely pursued by the Egyptians, it stood as a wall of defence between them and their enemies. P. F.—Some such guidance as was afforded the people in the pillar of cloud and of fire was necessary. The host of Israel being so numerous, having with them their flocks and herds, and being only to a small extent organized, it is difficult to see how they could possibly have kept together so as to march in any one direction or to come into camp without some provision like this of the cloudy pillar, rising high over the desert. N. C. B.—As far as the purposes of the Israelites were concerned, that cloudy-fiery pillar was the Shekinah or dwelling-place of Israel's God; it was the manifestation of his friendly protecting presence in their midst. There was sure guidance in its goings—a pledge of safety in its presence; by day a welcome awning in its shadow, and by night an illumination no less welcome in its forth-flowing effulgence. Hamilton. 22. The pillar of cloud departed not. It did not vanish from their view, but was a constant and unerring signal before or in the sight of the people. We have not now the pillar of fire and cloud, but we have the Word of God, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. This also is a supernatural revelation of the present Lord and his Messiah by the eternal Spirit, conveyed through the minds and words of holy men. This spiritual flame, kindled from heaven and enshrined in the cloud of human speech, has not been lost or extinguished, but continued from generation to generation, and is in the way of being diffused throughout the whole world, to be the guide of the nations to the land of promise till the days of darkness disappear. It remains a speaking token of the continual presence of the God of all grace, of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost in his church. M.—The Israelites were not to look at the road they traversed, whether it was rough or smooth; their business was to look only upon the cloud, and follow wherever it led them. And is not this our course? We are not responsible for the roughness or length of the road; we are only responsible for obeying the command of him who has placed us in it. In walking through life, as we traverse the desert and march toward Emmanuel's land, we are to look only for guidance, for strength, for pardon, for peace, for success, to the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night—the brightness of the Father's glory, God manifest in the flesh, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. J. C. 20. Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. We are to look not for a city, but for a region of that name. The papyrus of Saneha says that leaving the lake Kemuer (Timsah) he arrived at a place called Atima, which could not be very far distant. And the papyrus Anatasi, VI., a document of the time of the exodus, has this passage: "We have allowed the tribes of the Shasu of the land of Atuma to pass the stronghold of King Meneptah of the land of Succoth, toward the lakes of Pithom of King Meneptah of the land of Succoth." That I consider the region of Etham, the land which the papyri call Atima or Atuma. It was inhabited by Shasu nomads, and as it was insufficient to nourish their cattle, they asked to share the good pastures assigned to the Israelites. Both the nature of the land and its name agree well with what is said of Etham, that it was "in the edge of the wilderness." I believe Etham to be the region of Atuma, the desert which began at Lake Timsah, and extended south of it near the Arabia Gulf. Naville. We best meet the requirements of the narrative if we suppose Etham to have been beyond the eastern end of Wady Tumilat, toward Palestine, and not far from the northern end of Lake Timsah. It would thus lie on "the edge of the wilderness—" that is, on the line where Egypt ends and the Arabian desert begins. It would be where the way was open before Israel, either to pass over the heights of Guisr, or to strike northward into the main road to the Philistine territory and to Palestine. The command at that place, to move in the direction of Suez, would indeed be an order to "turn back." Bartlett.—All the desert east of the present Suez Canal was called the desert of Etham; and the "edge" of this desert on the route followed by the Israelites must have been near the present town of Ismailia, at the head of Lake Timsah. At this point the desert portion of the journey direct to Palestine begins; and here, between Lake Timsah and Lake Ballat, is the highest part of the isthmus and the best road out of Egypt to the east. Dawson. Had the Israelites passed out of Egypt at this point, the march would naturally have been across the desert some way south of Lake Serbonis to the Wady El Arish, and thence along the coast of the Mediterranean to Gaza and the low tract of the Shefeleh. But the nation was not yet in a fit condition to meet and contend with the war-like people of that rich and valuable region—the Philistines. God accordingly, who guided the march by the pillar of the cloud and of fire (verses 21, 22), "led them not the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest the people repent when they see war." G. R. De. 15 : 1. At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. The year of release is no doubt identical with the Sabbatical year of the earlier legislation; the word "release" of this passage being indeed fundamentally the same word as is used in reference to the land. Espin.—2. The Lord's release. The beautiful name given here—"the Lord's release"—suggests Gospel ideas. It finds its higher counterpart in that "acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:19), which is the true "Lord's release." Orr.—The scope of the entire ordinance seems to imply an absolute release of hopelessly impoverished debtors as well as a continuance of needful help for their support. Where there was a possibility of subsequent payment the remission of indebtedness was only temporary. B. De. 15:3. Foreigners could hold no property in the soil of Palestine. Their income was drawn from other sources, and they were therefore under an uninterrupted obligation to discharge their debts. Milligan.—4-6. There shall be no poor with thee. This ordinance is not intended to prevent creditors seeking the payment of their just debts, but only to prevent there being poor in the land. The reason assigned is that the Lord would greatly bless them in the land which he had given them, so that the creditor would be no loser by refraining from exacting his debt from his brother in the seventh year. 7-11. The reference to the release leads to a prescription regarding readiness to lend to the poor. They were not to harden their hearts against their poorer brethren, nor were they, in the prospect of the year of release, to refuse to lend them what was necessary for their uses, but were to open their heart and their hand to them according to their need, lest the poor should appeal against them to God and sin should lie upon them. W. L. A.—We have here what we may call the "poor law" of Palestine. The poor were to be regarded as "brethren." Loans were to be acts of generosity, and the idea was distinctly to be kept in view that a person should sometimes lend, "expecting nothing again." With foreigners—that is, those not of "the household of faith," it might be different; the debt need not in this case be cancelled; the year of release was a Divine institution for the people of God. Edgar.—There is in this law no encouragement to mendicancy, but rather such a check on pressure by the rich and such an inculcation of regard for the poor that beggary may be a thing unknown among them. "The spirit of this law is the same as that of the weekly Sabbath. Both have a beneficent tendency, limiting the rights and checking the sense of property; the one puts in God's claims on time, the other on the land. The land shall keep a Sabbath unto the Lord." C. C. 9. This very provision of God, that at the end of the septennial period release should be afforded to all debtors, might become very prejudicial to the interests of the poor. The approach of the Sabbatical year might make the Hebrew capitalists parsimonious and close-fisted. "Beware of this!" saith God. "Such an act will be an act of unfaithfulness to me." Jehovah has constituted himself the Guardian of the poor. And if his stewards fail to fulfil their mission, to them it will be accounted sin. D. D. 10. Here is a command to give cheerfully whatever we give in charity. Thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest. Be not loath to part with thy money on so good an account; grudge not a kindness to thy brother; and distrust not the Providence of God, as if thou shouldest want that thyself which thou givest in charity; but let it be a pleasure and a satisfaction of soul to thee to think that thou art honoring God with thy substance, doing good, making thy brother easy, and laying up for thyself a good security for the time to come. For this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee. Covetous people say, "Giving undoes us;" no, giving cheerfully in charity will fill the barns with plenty (Prov. 3:10) and the soul with true comfort (Is. 58:10, 11). H.—Open-handedness for God's sake is sure of its reward. The Lord showeth in both dispensations how "he loveth a cheerful giver." When a religious man, acting on principle, lives an open-handed life, he has the finest business stimulus. He works that he may have the more to give, and thus be the more God-like. There is nothing so hallows business as this desire to be able to help those in need. Edgar.—A blessing is attached to all obedience when the obedience is rendered to law Divine and gracious. The reward is in the man's own heart. None can forestall God, or outrun God, or confer upon God an obligation which he cannot repay; he takes the moisture from the earth only that he may return it in copious showers. No man can serve God for nought. J. P. 11. The poor shall never cease out of the land.** This phrase is not to be regarded as indicating a Divine appointment that it should be so, but as a Divine declaration that it would be so. As long as men are what they are, and the varied features of temperament and ability continue as they are, so long will there be abundant scope for the exercise of sympathy and of kindly help. C. C. The world has never seen institutions like these. No lawgiver ever proposed the like. Here was a picture, a type, a suggestion of what the unchallenged government of men by God, under his covenant of grace, would be. It was indeed justice, with benevolence between man and man. No oppression, no outwitting! The covetous restrained! The keen and ambitious turned aside! The drudge awakened to meditation, and the stupid aroused to hope! The fallen lifted up to essay a new starting! The unfortunate restored to earlier comfort! The whole population made free to consume the fruit of the land wherever it grew, not as the reward of toil, but as God's free, unearned gift! At last they would surely be able to read this legend over all the land: "Ye and your possessions are not your own." Grey. The constant neglect of this Sabbatic year from the very first was one of the national sins that were punished by the Babylonian captivity. Moses warned Israel of the retribution, that their land should be desolate till it had enjoyed its Sabbaths; and the warning was fulfilled in the seventy years' duration of the captivity. P. S.—When the captivity actually came, the years of its continuance corresponded with the number of the neglected Sabbatic years; and as these were seventy, this would carry us back about five hundred years to the commencement of the kingly government, as the time at which the observance was discontinued. After the captivity it was more scrupulously observed. Bush. Return of Every Man to his Land. These enactments had respect to the quality of the sacrifices which were to be offered by the congregation. All sacrifices by way of free-will offering to God, made either by Israelite or proselyte, for thanksgiving for former mercies or by way of vow for procuring blessings desired, should be perfect in their kind. No beast that was marked by any apparent defect, superfluity, excrescence, deformity, or disease was permitted to come upon the altar. Bush. All defective sacrifices were rejected, that the Israelites might learn to consecrate themselves entirely to God. Two things are required for legitimate worship; first, that he who approaches God should be purged from every stain, and secondly, that he should offer nothing except what is pure and free from all imperfection. Calv.—God is to be served with our best. He rejects the blemished for his service. He is entitled to our best. He requires it of us. Withholding it argues unworthy views of God and of what is due to him. It usually implies contempt of God and hypocrisy in his service (Mal. 1 : 12, 13). Orr.—We must not offer to God except of our best. It must be the noblest, as for him who is noble beyond word or thought; and it must be the noblest, as ennobling us who serve him and making us more like himself. F. W. Faber. Age of the Offering (Lev. 22 : 26-28. De. 15 : 19). Three particulars are here noted: (1) That "from the eighth day and thenceforth it shall be accepted for an offering." (2) That the mother and offspring shall not be offered the same day. (3) That "all firstling males of the herd and the flock" should be offered to Jehovah. B. 19-23. The first for God. The first day of the week he claims and hallows; the first-fruits of the soil he claims for religious offering; the first place in our affections he asks as his due; the first-born, both of man and of beast, he marks as his own. This is his royalty. D. D.—The firstlings which were males were not to be reared for work, but were to constitute, if perfect, a peace-offering before God. Just as in the first-fruits God claimed the first share; so in the case of the firstlings of the herd or flock, and the first-born among men. The dedication of the perfect firstling pointed to the consecrated first-born, Jesus Christ. He is indeed the first-born of every creature. To him the firstlings and first born pointed. He became the great peace-offering which makes God and man one. Edgar. 27,28. Before the eighth day they were not fit for food, and therefore not for sacrifice, which was the bread or food of God, as it is frequently termed. Bush.—The dam and the young are not to be slain in one day. Even the natural affection of a brute was not to be wounded. Much less is our own sense of propriety and good feeling to be blunted. This was a striking lesson in much higher things. M.—This precept seems to be confined to sacrifices, which were to be devoid of all appearance of cruelty. The Jews in general understand it as inculcating mercy. The Targum of Jonathan beautifully introduces the verse with this paraphrase: "And my people, the children of Israel, as our Father is merciful in heaven, so be ye merciful on earth." Bush.—All cruelty was prohibited in the sacrifices, and in them the rule was laid down that God would not have the exercises of religion disconnected from the duties of humanity. Calv. Offerings to be Voluntary, in the Spirit of Loyal Obedience and Reverent Worship (Lev. 22 : 29-33). These solemn injunctions, with the sublime appeal, "I am Jehovah," are in substance repeated again and again throughout the entire ritual legislation. At every point they emphasize the great fact that the true use and worth of the rite lay in the spirit of devotion which prompted the external act. B. 32,33. Ye are to hallow me in all your offerings and proceedings. And ye have the most powerful motives as well as the most cheering encouragements to aim at this object. "I am the Lord," the God of covenant and of salvation. This is an all-powerful motive. "Who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God" Here is another overwhelming motive. I have delivered you from bondage; I am your God. "Who hallow you." Here is both motive and encouragement; encouragement, because he who is hallowed of God is thereby endowed with a new life and enabled to glorify God in all things. The appeal is closed with the animating watchword, "I am the Lord." M. All Sacrifices to be Offered in the Court of the Tabernacle (Lev. 17 : 1-9). It is an emphatic declaration of the Divine will as to the place where all sacrificial offerings should be made. As God designed there should be one altar, one high-priest, one sanctuary, and one commonwealth of Israel, this unity of the nation and the religion would be destroyed if various altars and priests, and various places of offerings, were allowed. Bush.—It was of the greatest consequence for a people just released from heathen bondage, like the Israelites, that it should possess only one sacred place. There was nothing so likely to promote the polytheism of nature-worship as that every place should be regarded as holy, according to its natural peculiarities, its situation, its historical associations, the customs of its inhabitants, nay, even according to the prevailing different notions of the Divine Being. By these means a multitude of deities would be produced. Without unity of worship the people, so long as without a king, could not be kept together as one State. And so in after times this "sacrificing on high places" always was the beginning of apostasy to false worship. Gerl.—This precaution was the more reasonable, because in ancient times it was common to make an offering of the flesh it was intended to eat. And hence arose a suspicion that whoever killed animals, usually devoted to the altar, offered them of course; and therefore Moses enjoined them not to kill such animals otherwise than in public, and to offer them all to the true God; that so it might be out of their power to make them offerings to idols by slaughtering them privately, and under the pretence of using them for food Maimonades. The Jewish writers say, "Before the tabernacle was set up, the high places were lawful; and the service was by the first-born; after the tabernacle was erected, the high places were unlawful, and the service was performed by the priests." This limitation as to the place of worship is graciously done away under the Gospel (Mal. 1:11), "My name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering." Bush.—NOTE.—For the modification of this law by Moses just before the entrance of the nation into the promised land, see De. 12. B. The feast was intended to keep in everlasting remembrance the execution of judgment upon Egypt by the slaying of the first-born, and the consequent liberation of Israel from the house of bondage. That was the birth-season of their existence as a people. By mighty acts the Lord then did what he afterward expressed when he said, "I have formed thee, O Jacob; I have redeemed thee, O Israel: thou art mine." Above all others, then, this event deserved to be embalmed in the hearts of the people, and held in everlasting remembrance. P. F. It stood as an historical monument, testifying to the reality of the events of the exodus. No criticism of documents can impair its witness. No one has yet succeeded in showing how a festival like the Passover could have been introduced at any period later than that to which it historically refers. It has, so far as we can make out anything in history, been observed by the Jews from the very beginning of their national existence. The festival has thus all the value of a contemporary witness, and fully corroborates the Scripture history. The Lord's Supper in like manner is an historical witness not to be got rid of, testifying to acts and words of our Lord on the night of his betrayal, and furnishing clear evidence as to the light in which his death was regarded by himself. Orr. The Passover was appointed with a view to its future use as a memorial. It was held before the deliverance which it commemorated had been accomplished. A new era was to be reckoned from it. The memorial purpose of the rite has been accomplished. All over the world it is still observed, more than thirty-two hundred years after its institution, being thus, probably, the oldest religious ceremonial in existence. Christ's deliberate intention to represent his death as expiation, and to fix the reverential, grateful gaze of all future ages on his cross, cannot be eliminated from his founding of that memorial rite in substitution for the God-appointed ceremonial, so heavy with age and sacred in its significance. Like the Passover, the Lord's Supper was established before the deliverance was accomplished. It remains a witness at once of the historical fact of the death of Jesus, and of the meaning and power which Jesus himself bade us to see in that death. For us, redeemed by his blood, the past should be filled with his sacrifice. For us, fed on himself, all the present should be communion with him, based upon his death for us. For us, freed bond-men, the memorial of deliverance begun by his cross should be the prophecy of deliverance to be completed at the side of his throne, and the hasty meal, eaten with bitter herbs, the adumbration of the feast when all the pilgrims shall sit with him at his table in his kingdom. Past, present, and future should all be to us saturated with Jesus Christ. Memory should furnish hope with colors, canvas, and subjects for her fair pictures, and both be fixed on Christ our Passover, sacrificed for us. A. M. THE PASSOVER IN ITS PERPETUAL SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE; CHRIST OUR PASSOVER IS SACRIFICED FOR US (1 Cor. 5:7). The blood of the first paschal lambs sprinkled on the doorways of the houses has ever been regarded as the best defined foreshadowing of that blood which has redeemed, saved, and sanctified us (Heb. 11:28). The lamb itself, sacrificed by the worshipper without the intervention of a priest, and its flesh being eaten without reserve as a meal, exhibits the most perfect of peace-offerings, the closest type of the atoning Sacrifice who died for us and has made our peace with God. Bush.—The Passover is a gospel before the Gospel. The whole sacrificial system of Judaism had for its highest purpose to shadow forth the coming redemption. Christ is not spoken of as "our Passover" because the Mosaic ritual had happened to have that ceremonial; but the Mosaic ritual had that ceremonial mainly because Christ is our Passover, and, by his blood shed on the cross and sprinkled on our consciences, does in spiritual reality that which the Jewish Passover only did in outward form. The Evangelist John finds a fulfilment of the paschal injunction that not a bone should be broken; and so, by one passing allusion, shows that he recognized Christ as the true Passover. John the Baptist's rapturous exclamation, "Behold the Lamb of God!" blends allusions to the Passover, the daily sacrifice, and Isaiah's great prophecy. The day of the crucifixion, regarded as fixed by Divine Providence, may be taken as God's own finger pointing to the lamb whom he has provided. Paul's language attests the same truth. And even the last lofty visions of the Apocalypse, where the old man in Patmos so touchingly recurs to the earliest words which brought him to Jesus, echo the same conviction, and disclose, amid the glories of the throne, "a lamb as it had been slain." A. M. The Passover was designed to commemorate a great deliverance, that of Israel from the captivity and slavery of Egypt; and it was designed to prefigure a deliverance far greater—that of mankind from a tyranny far more abominable, a depression far more miserable; from the captivity of Satan, the slavery of sin, the dread of wrath to come; that the subjects of this Divine redemption may be placed under the conduct of Providence and grace in their passage through the wilderness of this world, until they shall be settled in the land of promise and eternal rest. The Passover commemorated a deliverance from a destruction otherwise inevitable: it was the only appointed means of safety; there was no other possibility of escape from the angel of Divine wrath. Thus the redemption which is in Christ Jesus is the only refuge of hope set before us—the only appointed means of escape from that wrath which will come upon all that neglect this great salvation. Further, the slaying of the Paschal Lamb did not avail unless its blood were sprinkled. The blood was shed in order that it might be sprinkled; the sprinkling was necessary to preserve the Israelites. Neither will the blood of Jesus Christ prove of saving efficacy unless it be applied. When wrath shall overwhelm the unbelieving in the judgment of the last day, it will be of no avail to plead the merit of this great sacrifice unless we have approached it for ourselves. “Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, we must draw near with a heart sprinkled from an evil (or an accusing) conscience.” The merit of the Redeemer’s blood is infinite, but its efficacy is confined to its application. In his own words, “except ye eat my flesh, and drink my blood, ye have no life in you.” R. Hall. # The Passover and the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s table is a standing historical declaration of the offering of God’s one great sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. “Ye do show the Lord’s death.” It also seals a fellowship—a fellowship of redeemed souls, who have been bought with a price, and transferred from the kingdom of Satan to that of God’s dear Son; having here below a union of hearts which will be perfected in an unseen state. This fellowship is openly sealed by their taking of one bread and drinking one cup. It is a joint pledge of loyalty to the Church’s Head and Lord; in renewing their remembrance of his love to them they seal afresh their pledge of love and allegiance to him. Hence the Lord’s Supper came to be called sacramentum, the Church’s military oath of obedience to her Great Commander. It is a service of thanksgiving. Hence it came to be called the Eucharist. The Passover Feast was a grateful recall of a mighty deliverance. So is the Christian feast. And it is a declaration of hope and expectancy. “Ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.” Believers in Israel were expecting Canaan. We are waiting for the Son of God from heaven to bring us to our heavenly rest (Heb. 4). C. C. De. 17:2, 3. The crime here ordained to be punished by death was the worship of the heavenly bodies. Its apparent sublimity made it only the more seductive and dangerous. It was a departure, though at first a very subtle and scarcely recognizable one, from pure monotheism—the beginning of a course of declension which speedily led in Egypt, Phœnicia, Babylonia, India, and most other nations to the grossest abominations. Orr. 4. These are tokens of severity, that a woman as well as a man is to be slain; that the whole people should unite in stoning them; that the evil should be removed from the midst of the land, lest the abomination should continue unpunished. He marks the heinous nature of the offence, by calling it the “transgressing of God’s covenant”; thus affirming that all who go aside unto idols are covenant-breakers. It is not simple impiety which is here punished, but the perfidy whereby true religion is forsaken after men have devoted themselves to God and professed themselves to be of the number of his people. Colo.—Although physical death is no longer to be inflicted and outward stoning is happily unknown, there remains the eternal truth that false worship is death, misconceived worship is loss of soul, and right worship is daily sustenance and the continual enhancement of highest strength. J. P. De. 13:1-18. Temptations to depart from God to be resisted at all costs. Here Israel is told what to do in case of temptation arising to worship false gods. The chapter deals with this one topic. Temptations to depart from God may come (1) from a professed prophet or wonder-worker, or (2) they may arise from the nearest relative or bosom friend, or (3) they may come from a town or city. In either case, the infection is to be “stamped out” at once. Any enticement to idolatry, come whence it may, is not to be tolerated for a moment. The wonder-worker is to be put to death; the friend is to be slain; the city is to be destroyed. C. C. Even when a prophet performs a miracle for the sake of seducing the people into idolatry, they shall not believe him but punish him. This precept is of great importance, because it shows that even in the Old Testament a miracle was only of an introductory and preparatory character, and never was meant in and for itself to work as a sufficient proof of the truth. Every miracle points to something; and if that to which it points is shown by other yet more undoubted signs to be false and mischievous, then the miracle itself is a lying miracle. Therefore the New Testament also warns us against false prophetic spirits. Gerl. Terribly stern is the duty here laid on the person enticed to idolatry. The law is adapted to an age of stern deeds, and to a people living under a stern dispensation. Yet, reflecting on the nature of the crime, on the constitution of the Jewish state, and on the issues to mankind which hung on the slender thread of this one nation’s fidelity, it is difficult to see how it could well have been less stern than it is. Its severity was perhaps its mercy. Note, too, that the criminal could be executed only after formal impeachment, fair trial, and conclusively established guilt. Orr. 11. And all Israel shall hear, and fear.** God doth not punish merely for the sake of punishment. Even his severities are the effects of goodness, and always directed to the advantage either of those who feel them or of others. Secker.—The effect anticipated was this: All Israel shall hear, and fear, and do no more any such wickedness. On God’s side the result would be that he would “turn and show them mercy, and multiply” their numbers. Very clearly was it announced that this judicial action was the action of God, and that righteous and obedient Hebrews were the officers of Jehovah. D. D. De. 13:3, 4. “The LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and cleave unto him.” These words present the supreme reason and sanction for the commands of this thirteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, as they furnish the one sublime and sufficient basis for all Divine commands and prohibitions. B.—“Ye shall walk after the Lord” embodies New Testament teaching as well as Old. Absolute loyalty to Christ should be the governing principle of life. The Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Christ of the New. He appeals to us by righteousness, love, hope, fear. Temptations to desert Christ’s standard may pour in upon us from various quarters. Seductions either to the false in faith or the corrupt in practice may come from those near and dear to us. These temptations are to be withstood at all costs. How earnestly should we pray that we may be kept faithful to our dear Lord in heaven! How lovingly should we warn others, lest they swerve from their fealty to him! C. C. # Magical Arts and Divination. Israel, being under a theocracy, did not need an earthly king; but neither was this thereby precluded, provided the king chosen by the people were one whom Jehovah would approve as his vicegerent. In case, then, of their coming to desire to have a king over them like the nations around them, Moses gives instructions here as to the choice of a king, and as to the duties and obligations resting upon those who might be elevated to that office. The form in which these are conveyed clearly indicates that, at the time this was uttered, the existence of a king in Israel was contemplated as only a distant possibility. Moses foresaw that the people would wish to be as the nations around them— governed by a king—and he legislates accord- ingly, without approving of that wish. W. L. A. —No sanction nor recommendation was indi- cated; on the contrary, when the popular clamor had effected that constitutional change on the Theocracy by the appointment of a king, the Divine disapproval was expressed in the most unequivocal terms (1 Sam. 8:7). Permission at length was granted, God reserving to himself the nomination of the family and the person who should be elevated to the regal dignity. Jamieson. The law of the king, as we find it recorded in Deuteronomy, is, on its face, framed in an- ticipation of a juncture to arise. It looks for- ward to a period when the Canaanites shall have been dispossessed, their land apportioned, and Israel definitely settled in it. The demand for a king would then arise. It would come from the people. Permission is granted to comply with this demand conditionally, and directions given in detail concerning the manner of the sovereign's choice, the title he shall bear, the government of his household, his income, his relative position among his brethren, the suc- cession, and other matters, in a way to set him wholly apart from any contemporaneous kings, so, indeed, as to show that he was to be a king under the peculiar conditions of a government that must still be recognized, as in the end, theocratic. The law, in short, is Mosaic in the finest shading of its phraseology. It is true that some temptations and evil practices of kings in general—in the event proving to be also those of later Israelitish kings, like Solomon—seem to have been directly in mind throughout and guarded against. With the knowledge of what the kings of Egypt and Canaan were, what less could have been expected of such a man as Moses, to say nothing of the fact that our book represents him as a prophet? E. C. B. The inspired foresight of this legislator con- templated the future existence of a constitutional monarch. Moses perceived that even his perfect government would weary the inconstancy of man, and that mortal passions would corrupt even a Divine institution. Moses, with pres- cient wisdom, limited the power intrusted into the hands of royalty, and even prescribed a daily task to the future sovereign. The legisla- tor rendered the Jewish king the most guileless man in his dominions. The sovereign was to be elected from among their own brethren; no stranger was to sit on the throne of Israel. A foreigner might change the constitution, or raise up a faction in direct opposition to the national interest. The king was not to multiply horses; a force of cavalry, in a land where horses are scarce, might become a standing army endangering their liberties, or might transfer the seat of dominion. It is par- ticularly specified that the Jewish monarch shall never return with his people into Egypt: "Ye shall henceforth return no more that way." Egypt, for the Israelites at the Mosaic period, was their Father-land; unwilling exiles, their human hearts, at each remove in the lone des- ert, but dragged a lengthening chain, while they hankered after their home delights, "the fat onions and the flesh pots." Judaism could only exist in a constant triumph over idolatry. The Jewish monarch was not to have many wives, nor was he to accumulate great treasure; so early were women and wealth dreaded as the corrupters of royalty. With his own hand he was to transcribe the laws into a volume from the roll which was kept before the priests, "that his heart be not lifted up among his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left." There is no instance of a Jewish king making a new law; "the statutes and the judgments," unlike those of other nations, were not laid up in the dusty archives of a court of judicature, or subjected to the caprice of the executive power; they were deposited in the memories of the priests and in the hearts of the people; the laws were supreme. Had the constitutional King of Israel struck into the road of arbitrary power, he would have been arrested by the written voice of heaven—the text placed before his eyes; for the Divine institution of the Mosaic Law is the fundamental principle of Judaism. A tyrant would have been an atheist. D'Israeli. 15. One from among thy brethren. The Hebrew sovereign was to be a native Hebrew, to be elected from his brethren. A foreigner might change the constitution, or raise up a faction in opposition to the national interest. Foreigners, too, would be inclined to the intro- duction of idolatry. 16. The Hebrew king was not to multiply horses. As the Israelites made no use of horses in agriculture, and but little as beasts of bur- den, employing for these purposes oxen and asses, and as they made most of their journeys on foot, and of course did not need them for travelling, this must be understood as a prohibi- tion against maintaining a strong force of cav- alry. For defence cavalry was unnecessary. On the west Palestine had the sea. On the north, its barrier was a range of lofty and almost impassable mountains, where a mounted soldiery would be of little use. To the east and south it was bounded by vast deserts. The only object, therefore, for which an Israelitish sovereign could desire to keep any considerable force of this description, would be to make foreign conquests. But it was against the whole scope of the Mosaic Law, nay, subversive of its fundamental purpose, that the Hebrews should be conquerors of foreign countries and their king a universal monarch. And as the keeping of a strong body of horse could hardly fail to engender a spirit of foreign conquest, it was expressly interdicted to the head of the State. The fact that Moses forbade the use of this species of force is a proof that he designed his people for peaceful pursuits, and not for military glory. But Moses had another motive for his prohibition of cavalry. The political equality of all the citizens, as we have seen under a former head, was a darling object with him. But in all ancient nations, where cavalry was employed, the horsemen, being necessarily the wealthier members of the community, became also the more powerful. The system threw the chief political power into the hands of a few rich citizens, who could afford to mount and bring into the field themselves and their dependents. This naturally tended to the establishment of monarchical and aristocratical governments. And on this account, as well as on account of his repugnance to an aggressive military policy, Moses excluded a mounted soldiery from the forces of the republic. It is remarkable how speedily the substitution of the monarchical for the republican form of polity led to the introduction and use of cavalry in the Israelitish armies. E. C. W.—Further, the multiplying of horses is prohibited, because this would bring Israel into intercourse and friendly relations with Egypt, and might tend to their going back to that country from which they had been so marvellously delivered; a prohibition which could only have been given at an early stage in the history of the people, for at a later period, after they had been well established in Canasan, such a prohibition for such a reason would have been simply ridiculous. W. L. A. 16. Their dark experience of Egyptian bondage was never to be repeated. They should return that way no more. The only course open to them was to go onward to the realization of their destiny as a free people, for the gate behind them was closed, never to be opened again. The text may naturally be regarded as God's voice to his emancipated host, saying, "No retreat!" C. C. 17. The Israelitish sovereign was still further forbidden to marry many wives; so early were women dreaded as the corrupters of royalty. I look upon this law as a prohibition against keeping a numerous harem or a state seraglio—that inseparable accompaniment of eastern despotism. Besides the inherent tendency of the thing to render kings effeminate, and dissolve their hearts in indolence and pleasure, there was a special reason against it in the Israelitish polity. It is incident to the keeping of a harem as a matter of royal state, that the monarch seek out and collect together the most beautiful women of all nations. But all other nations at that time were idolaters. Moses dreaded the influence of heathen beauties upon the religious principles and character of the Hebrew kings. He feared that it would lead to the introduction and practice of idolatry. How reasonable his fears were, the history of Solomon affords a memorable and melancholy proof. His harem contained a thousand women, many of whom were Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites, besides the daughter of Pharaoh; "strange women." His wives turned away his heart after other gods. He appears to have built temples for them all, and himself joined in paying Divine honors to Ashtoreth, and Milcom, and Chemosh, and Molech. The conduct of Solomon places in a very striking light the wisdom of this statute, at the same time that it shows that none of the laws of Moses was less observed than this. Neither multiply silver and gold. The hoarding up of large treasures by the sovereign tends to obstruct the circulation of money, discourage industry, and impoverish his subjects. The Israelitish king, observes Lewis, "was allowed to lay up money in the treasury at the temple for the occasions of the State, but was forbidden to fill his own coffers for his private interest, lest he should exact more of his subjects than they were able to bear." There is undoubtedly a wide and obvious difference between these two sorts of treasure. That laid up in the public treasury the king could not use without the consent of the other branches of the government. Of course he could not pervert it to purposes of tyranny, on pretence of applying it to the public service. E. C. W. 18-20. He shall write him a copy of this Law in a book. The original scroll of the ancient Scriptures was deposited in the sanctuary under the strict custody of the priests (see on ch. 31:26; 2 Kings 22:8). Each monarch on his accession was to be furnished with a true and faithful copy, which he was to keep constantly beside him and daily peruse it, that his character and sentiments being cast into its sanctifying mould he might discharge his royal functions in the spirit of faith and piety, of humility and a love of righteousness. Jamieson. — Having a Bible by him, he must read therein all the days of his life (verse 19). It is not enough to have Bibles, but we must use them, use them daily, as the duty and necessity of every day require: our souls must have their constant meals of that manna; and if well digested, it will be true nourishment and strength to them. As the body is receiving benefit by its food continually, so is the soul by the Word of God, if it meditate therein day and night (Ps. 1 : 2). And we must persevere in the use of the written Word of God as long as we live. Christ's scholars never learn above their Bibles, but will have a constant occasion for them, till they come to that world where knowledge and love will both be made perfect. H. The Law, and not the king's own will and pleasure, was to be the rule of his administration. This point was made very prominent in the statute, as the reader will perceive by recurring to it. The king was required to make, or cause to be made, an accurate transcript of the Law out of the book, which was before the priests the Levites—that is, probably, the autograph, kept in the tabernacle. This he must have with him continually, and read therein all the days of his life, to the end that he might learn to keep all the words of this Law and these statutes, to do them. He might not "turn aside from the commandment (the constitution and the laws) to the right hand or to the left." From this we see that the laws were supreme. The kings were as much bound to observe them as the private citizens. They had no power to make or repeal a single statute. We have here a perfect exemplification of a government of laws. The constitutional King of Israel could not assume and exercise arbitrary power without first trampling under foot the fundamental law of the State. Moses made him simply the first citizen. He aimed also at making him the wisest, the purest, and the best. The king must be gracious and condescending toward his subjects. His heart must not be lifted up. He must look upon his people not only as equals but as brethren. We find the best kings cherishing this sentiment and acting upon it. When David addressed the States-general, he rose before them and used this affectionate compellation: "Hear me, my brethren, and my people" (1 Ch. 28 : 2). All the above conditions being observed by him whom the Israelites should choose for their king, the throne was to be hereditary in his family. This is plain from the concluding words of the statute: "To the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel." Moses enjoins it upon the king to keep the laws, that he and his posterity may long fill the throne. But it is quite as important to observe that although the sceptre was hereditary it was not inalienable. It might be taken from one family and given to another by the concurrent will of Jehovah and the Hebrew people. Nay, it certainly would be thus transferred if the king failed to govern according to the laws. Thus we perceive that the Israelitish kings were not absolute and unlimited sovereigns; they were constitutional monarchs. Besides this original and fundamental law, a special capitulation was sworn to by the kings of Israel. The compact between Saul and the Hebrew people, made when he was chosen to the royal dignity, was drawn up by Samuel. That writing, in which doubtless were specified the rights of the king, was carefully deposited in the sanctuary. Of its contents the Bible does not inform us; but there can be no doubt that the limitations of the royal power fixed by it were numerous and important. E. C. W. The people of Samuel's time, it is evident, knew of the Law; they do not overlook the advantage they have in it in the appeal they make. They use its language almost word for word in Hebrew, "make us a king to judge us like all the nations" (1 Sam. 8 : 5). And it has been noticed that the whole context is saturated with Deuteronomic expressions and ideas. E. C. B. — The relationship between Samuel's account of the choice of a king and the statements in Deuteronomy is so close that out of one hundred verses in the story told by Samuel, nearly one half borrow the words and thoughts of Deuteronomy. Among scholars no doubt whatever is entertained of the indebtedness of the writer in Samuel to the writer of Deuteronomy. Sime. This Law given to the kings of Israel, considered together with the history of the nation, forms a very strong presumption for the Divine original of the Law of Moses. For supposing Moses to be a mere human legislator, like Solon or Lycurgus, what could tempt him to forbid the princes of his country the use of horses and chariots for their defence? Can it be supposed that the history of many ages, which relates to the affairs not only of the princes of Israel but of other contemporary kings, is all forged, and that merely to show an agreement between the history and this particular law? Or how shall we account for the conduct of the prophets who saw the people ruined, and instead of reproaching them with cowardice and a neglect of their necessary defence, reproach them with having been too strong, too powerful in horses and horsemen? These appearances can never be accounted for by any human contrivance, and they plainly show that the hand of God was in this thing from the beginning to the end. Bp. Sherlock. De. 18 15 THE LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me ; unto him ye shall hearken ; according to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the LORD said unto me, They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee ; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, which shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken : the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him. 20 1 When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, thou shalt not be afraid of them : for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye draw nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye draw nigh this day unto battle against your enemies : let not your heart faint ; fear not, nor tremble, neither be ye affrighted at them ; for the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and faint hearted ? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as his heart. And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall appoint captains of hosts at the head of the people. When thou drawest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall become tributary unto thee, and shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it ; and when the LORD thy God delivereth it into thine hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword : but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take for a prey unto thyself ; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these peoples, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth : but thou shalt utterly destroy them ; the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite ; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee : that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods ; so should ye sin against the LORD your God. When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them ; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down ; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged 20 of thee ? Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down ; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it fall. While Moses lived he was one and all in the house of Jehovah, the mediator between Jehovah and the people in all respects. He was commander-in-chief, deliverer, lawgiver, priest, teacher, chastiser, and judge. There was no function in connection with the representation of God, or with the mediation of the words and acts of God, which he had not discharged, or was not warranted in discharging in the highest (human) form. And he was a prophet in all this and for all this—that is to say, his prophetic gift controlled, pervaded, inspired, and regulated all these functions. K. In word and deed Moses showed himself an instrument of the Lord, unapproached by any other. He was the prophet without rival in respect of his intercourse with God and of what the Lord did and revealed by him. Of Moses it is said more frequently than of all other prophets together : “God talked with him,” or “God spake to him.” He is not only called “Servant of JEHOVAH” most frequently of all the men of God in the Old Testament, and “Servant of God” (Elohim)—a designation used of him exclusively—but he is also called the greatest among the prophets on account of the intimacy and familiarity of the intercourse he enjoyed with God, and on account of the clear directness which distinguished the revelation given to him. Orelli. Moses was indeed leader, lawgiver, and worker of miracles to his people, but all these characters fade before the primary one of prophet. Only as a prophet was he leader, lawgiver, and worker of miracles ; and all his greatness belongs to him as a prophet alone. Ewald. De. 18 : 15-19. This Messianic prophecy predicts another prophet like Moses, who will fulfil and complete his legislation with Divine authority. It does not recognize an order of prophets. If this passage came from the period of the kings and prophets there could hardly fail to be allusions to the prophetic order or to other prophets of Jehovah. We find in Jer. and Is 53, where the Messianic prophet again comes into prominence in the Messianic idea, such references ; and we would expect them in this passage under the same circumstances. Briggs. This is the clearest promise of Christ that is in all the Law of Moses. What God promised Moses at Mount Sinai (which he relates, verse 18) he promised the people (verse 15), in God’s name. (1) That there should come a prophet by whom God would make known himself and his will to the children of men more fully and clearly than ever he had done before. He is the light of the world, as prophecy was of the Jewish Church. He is the word by whom God speaks to us. (2) That God would raise him up from the midst of them. In his birth he should be one of that nation, should live among them, and be sent to them. In his resurrection he should be raised up at Jerusalem, and from thence his doctrine should go forth to all the world : thus God, having raised up his Son Christ Jesus, sent him to bless us. (3) That he should be like unto Moses. Moses was a lawgiver to Israel and their deliverer out of Egypt ; and Christ not only teaches, but rules and saves ; Moses was the founder of a new dispensation, by signs and wonders and mighty deeds ; and so was Christ, by which he proved himself a teacher come from God. (4) That God would put his words in his mouth (verse 18). What messages God had to send to the children of men, he would send them by him, and give him full instructions what to say and do as a prophet. Hence our Saviour says, My doctrine is not mine originally, but his that sent me. So that this great promise is performed ; this prophet is come, even Jesus, it is he that should come, and we are to look for no other. H. Christ alone was like unto Moses as a PROPHET, for it is written, There arose not a prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew, face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do. This can be understood of Christ only as the apostles expound it (Acts 2 : 22-26). Christ was like unto Moses in respect to his office of mediation between God and his people, but greater than Moses, as being the mediator of a better covenant (or testament) which was established upon better promises. Christ was like unto Moses in excellency ; for as Moses excelled all the prophets, in speaking to God mouth to mouth, so Christ excelled him and all men, in that, being in the bosom of the Father, he hath come down from heaven, and declared God unto us (John 1 : 18 and 3 : 13). Christ was like to Moses in faithfulness, but therein also excelling ; for Moses was faithful in God's house as a servant, but christ as the son over his own house. Christ was like to Moses in signs and wonders, wherein he also excelled Moses, as the history of the Gospel shows. For he was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God, and all the people. A man approved of God among them, by miracles, signs, and wonders, which God did by him in the midst of them. For he did among them the works which no other man did. Unto him—that is, not unto the diviners, wizards, or any such like, but unto him, and him only—as, Him thou shalt serve (De. 6:13), is expounded Him only (Matt. 4:10). Ainsworth.—He was like to Moses as a legislator. Moses gave laws to Israel by the authority and commandment of God, which the Jews have ever acknowledged as coming from the immediate inspiration of the Almighty. Christ gave a new law, the Gospel contained in the four Evangelists and Acts of the Apostles, on which the Christian Church is founded, and by which all genuine Christians are governed, both in heart and life. To all which may be added, That God never commissioned any human beings to give laws to mankind, but Moses and Christ: and therefore, as a Lawgiver, Christ alone resembles Moses; for, to the present hour, none but themselves have given laws in the name of God, which he has ratified and confirmed by the most indubitable and infallible signs, proofs, and miracles. A. C.—Let us search all the records of universal history, and see if we can find a man who was so like to Moses as Christ was, and so like to Christ as Moses was. If we cannot find such a one, then have we found HIM, of whom Moses in the Law and the prophets did write, to be Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. Jor-in. Christ's allusion to his words as having authority (John 12:48, 49) seems to refer to this passage (verses 18, 19). And the voice from the cloud at Christ's transfiguration, "Hear ye him," corresponds to the prominent point of this prophecy, "Unto him shall ye hearken" (verse 15). Moses, present at the transfiguration, must have recognized this identity. H. C.—The woman of Samaria says to Jesus, "I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ; when he is come, he will tell us all things." As the Samaritans accepted the Pentateuch alone, the notion here expressed, that the Messiah would be a divinely enlightened teacher, cannot have been derived from any other source than the passage before us. The words of the woman bear a striking resemblance to verse 18, "He shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." Hengs.—When Philip says to Nathanael, "We have found him, of whom Moses in the Law did write," he can only have thought of this prophecy; for throughout the entire Pentateuch there is only one other Messianic prophecy of a personal character—namely, that of the star and sceptre out of Jacob, the predicates of which were but little adapted to lead Philip to the opinion which he here expressed. This is also true of the Shiloh passage in Gen. 49:10. There is also an allusion to this passage in John 6:14, where the people say, after the feeding of the five thousand, "This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world." And Christ undoubtedly had it in his mind when he said, "Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me." K.—It is evident that the Lord must here have had in view a distinct passage of the Pentateuch—a clear and definite declaration of Moses. But if a single declaration (a direct Messianic prophecy) forms the question at issue, this is the only passage that can possibly be meant; for it is the only prophecy of Christ which Moses, on whose person such stress is laid, uttered in his own name—the only one in which Divine judgments are threatened to the despisers of the Messiah. Hengs.—The interpretation given to our prophecy in the Jewish theology of the period subsequent to the captivity is a proof that this really was the case. What the later prophets proclaimed respecting a new covenant which Jehovah would conclude with his people, and respecting the mediator of this covenant (the "angel of the covenant," Mal. 3:1), rested upon this prophecy, and was but a further expansion of its interpretation. K.—The sum of the matter is that Jesus the Christ is the greater than Moses—the prophet of prophets, on whom rested, without measure, the Spirit of the Lord D. F. INTIMATION OF A SUCCESSION OF PROPHETS (verses 20-22). 20-22. The reference to the discrimination of false prophets from true prophets shows that a multiplicity and a succession of prophets was [also] in the view of the speaker; and as a succession of priests, of judges, and of kings was contemplated in this part of the Mosaic legislation, the presumption is that a succession also of prophets was contemplated. W. L. A.—There is a double reference in the entire passage—viz., to the Messiah (verses 15-19) and to the line of divinely inspired prophets under the Hebrew Theocracy (verses 20-22). To keep the Israelites from being carried away by the torrent of superstition, which overflowed and corrupted the nations, true religion was provided with an institution, which should really furnish that knowledge, which false religion pretended to give. A constant succession of true prophets would be a powerful means of weaning God's people from superstitious practices, and of keeping them from consulting diviners to discover what should befall them. Two tests only of the truth or falsity of the claim to prophetic inspiration are here recognized—viz., first, whether the prophet spoke in the name of Jehovah or of false gods; and, secondly, whether or not a future event, foretold by him, happened according to his word. E. C. W. The dispensation was not a final one. The kingdom of God had a future which it was the task of prophecy gradually to disclose. The Law enclosed innumerable spiritual germs, which it was the function of prophecy to expand and develop. It had, moreover, underlying its ceremonialism a spiritual basis, which it was the business of the prophets to bring to light, and to recall to people's minds when they appeared in danger of forgetting it. Prophecy was thus a standing witness to the life, freshness, and power which lay in the heart of a religion largely wrapped up in legal forms. Then there was the necessity for new light and guidance under the conditions of advancing national life, and in times of national emergency. The Law left not a little scope for extended applications of its fundamental principles, and it lay with the prophets to furnish the direction required. All this, in addition to their more general function of rebuking, warning, and testifying, in times of declension, which, with the carrying forward the development of revelation in its relation to Christ and his kingdom, may be regarded as the chief part of their work. It was the greatness of Moses that he was employed by God in inaugurating a new era in the history of his kingdom—in introducing a new order of things—in settling the foundations of a new economy. In this respect he stood at the head of the Old Testament line of prophets, and stood apart from them. "The Law was given by Moses." He had the ordering and settling of the "house" of God in the form in which it was to last till Christ came, who, "as a Son over his own house," would revise its arrangements and reconstitute it on a new and better basis (Heb. 3:2-7). Prophets subsequent to Moses stood within the lines of the economy already established. They could enforce and maintain, but while predicting the advent of a new age in which great changes would be wrought, they had no authority of themselves to introduce such changes. It was reserved for Christ to "change times and seasons," and so to alter and remodel Mosaic institutions or supersede them by new ones, or abolish them by giving the substance for the shadow, as to place the Church upon a permanent and moveless basis, and adapt it for the reception of the Gentile nations. Orr.—There was from time to time a line of prophets who spoke for God. There has come to earth a prophet greater than all beside. They always pointed onward to another; he, never, save as a heavenly gift from him was by him held in reserve, even the gift of the Holy Ghost. Thus God has come into communion with our race, to reveal his mind and will. C. C. No punishment could be awarded without previous judicial investigation, and a conviction arrived at only on sufficient evidence. And the punishment due to any particular offence was prescribed in the Law, and was not left to the arbitrary determination of the judge. Thus, every precaution was constitutionally taken not only to maintain established order, but to insure a consistent and equitable administration of justice. This was a most potent principle in securing respect for the Law, and so promotive of its objects. D. M. # Design of Punishment. De. 19 : 20. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and commit no more any such evil. The design of punishment is put in the plainest terms. In its severer forms it is not the discipline of the criminal but the good of the public—to deter the evil-minded from crime and so to make society safe from outrage. In the case of presumptuous sins we read—"That man shall die, and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel, and all the people shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously" (De. 17 : 12, 13). H. C.—Moses was quite unacquainted with a modern refinement of wisdom, which represents the reformation of the criminal as the only legitimate end of punishment. Its great design he represents to be the protection of society and the vindication of law and justice. E. C. W. # Kinds of Punishment. The principal punishments, known to the Mosaic Code, were the sword, stoning, stripes, compensations, restitutions, reparation of losses, and fines. Our inspired jurist appointed no ignominious punishments for the living. Blows were not regarded in that light by the Asiatics; and burning, hanging, and burying beneath a pile of stones, which were of this nature, were, it is probable, according to the laws of Moses, inflicted after death, and are, therefore, to be looked upon as a posthumous disgrace. The Penal Code of Moses was not stained with any of those torturous and lingering punishments which have disgraced the jurisprudence of so many polished nations since his day. E. C. W. De. 25 : 1-3. Stripes were made the penalty of certain specified crimes (Lev 19 : 20 and De. 22 : 18). The Law was careful to limit the number of stripes to forty, giving as the reason—"Lest if thou shouldest exceed this number then thy brother should seem vile unto thee"—i.e., not merely lest the man might lose his self respect, but lest he lose the respect of the community, and be hopelessly degraded. In usage the Hebrews limited the number to thirty-nine—said to have been administered by thirteen strokes of a triple cord. H. C.—The ground upon which this law is rested is even more remarkable than the law itself. It is not to a simple motive of compassion that the legislator makes appeal; it is respect for the dignity of human nature. To inflict upon a man punishment of an excessive and degrading nature is to outrage humanity itself. This character of the legislation has perhaps not been sufficiently noticed. Strict as it is, it provides for respect to the dignity of man; it punishes the criminal, it never degrades him. Bovet. Other minor and special penalties, and the crowning one of all, the death penalty, will be treated of in the section following this, in direct connection with various injuries and crimes. But we desire to emphasize here a great principle bearing upon all punishment, though in terms referring to the death penalty. It is found in De. 24: 16. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin. (Read the whole verse.) B.—How much and how justly do we appreciate the principle of our constitutional law that no criminal attainder shall work corruption of blood! Yet this principle Moses here incorporated into his code, in the face of prejudice, common opinion, immemorial usage, and the sentiment of inexorable and insatiate revenge. Undeniably, it is a specimen of legislative policy which takes its author out of the crowd of ancient legislators and places him on an eminence far above them all. E. C. W. As between man and man, justice consists in conceding and rendering to every one all his rights. He who has all his rights has no injustice done him. Divine justice consists not only in this, but also in rendering to every one his deserts. These two forms of justice are entirely distinct. Desert of punishment depends upon guilt; but with guilt as such and in distinction from injury to the individual and to society, man cannot deal. That depends upon the heart, which he cannot know and can have no claim to regulate. Man looks on the act and infers the motive. He may not punish except on the presumption of a bad motive, but his punishment must be graduated, not by the presumed badness of the motive, but by the tendency of the act to injure society. God, on the other hand, looks at the motive and disregards the act. He sees and punishes guilt in intention where there is no outward act. Hence "vengeance belongs to him." He only can administer punitive justice. Man may guard rights; he may prevent any violation of them in the name of justice and within its limits. And the sentiment of justice within him may find satisfaction in such punishment, but the measure of punishment by him must be found in its necessity to guard the rights of society, and not in any satisfaction of absolute punitive justice. Any other right can be had only from direct revelation. Punishment presupposes a law administered by a personal lawgiver having rights. It presupposes a righteous penalty annexed to the law, and that the law has been violated. These conditions being given, punishment is the infliction of a previously declared penalty by the will of the lawgiver for the sake of sustaining the authority of the law. That authority can be sustained in no other way. Nothing but a penalty proclaimed, and, if need be, inflicted, can make known and measure the regard of the lawgiver for the law. Hence, as entering into the very conception of government, punishment is justified. It can never be wanton, or capricious, or revengeful, for evil thus inflicted would cease to be punishment, but the extent of it must be measured by its necessity for the attainment of the ends of government, and what that extent should be only a righteous and competent lawgiver can judge. Obviously, as proclaimed beforehand, the penalty must express, and that only can, the estimate by the lawgiver of his own rights, and of the rights of others that are in question, and also his benevolent desire to present the highest moral motives the case will allow to prevent the infraction of law. And then, whatever it is right to affix as a penalty beforehand it must be not only right, but necessary to inflict as punishment, else, unless some adequate reason can be given, all government must be abandoned. M. H. CRIMES, INJURIES, AND PENALTIES: THEFT AND BURGLARY; DAMAGE OR LOSS; INJURIES TO PERSONS AND TO CATTLE. THE LAW OF RETALIATION. DEATH PENALTY FOR SPECIAL CRIMES (OTHER THAN MURDER). STONING OF SABBATH-BREAKER. THE BLASPHEMING SON OF SHELOMITH. MODES OF INFLICTING DEATH. These instructions are peculiar to Deuteronomy. As the people of God, Israel was not a warlike nation; they were rather to abstain from warfare, and as a general rule to cultivate the arts of peace. But they had before them at this time the prospect of a serious and protracted conflict before they could occupy the land which God had assigned to them; and they might in future years have to go to war to maintain their independence and repel aggression. In view of this, instructions are here given regarding the conducting of military service. W. L. A. The following laws, which relate to wars, rest on two main principles. The first is that Israel is the people of the Lord, and carries on war only in his name; therefore ought not to rely on fleshly might, but to allow freedom from warlike service to all who have either entered on some new relation of life, or who through fearfulness of heart are wanting in that courage of faith which should be the strength of the Lord's host. The second is that God's people ought to love peace rather than war, and may never give way to a savage desire of extermination; and therefore are bound, except in the execution of the judicial punishment commanded by God, always to offer peace. Geri. #### Preparation for Battle. To possess and occupy Canaan meant a long and bitter conflict. It is natural, therefore, to find no inconsiderable part of our code devoted to military operations and rules of war. How captives are to be treated, cleanliness in camp, what cities are to be spared and what destroyed, the demolition of heathen shrines—these are some of the timely topics treated by our Law-giver on the eve of the conquest. Of a like nature is the one regarding preparation for battle. It is most unique in character, and bears in every part the evidence of strict historic truthfulness. First, there is an appeal for courage in view of superior numbers and strength. He who had brought them out of Egypt would be with them. Should they see horses and chariots, they were not to be afraid of them. Afraid of horses and chariots! Childish admonition if it be not childlike and genuine! In Hezekiah's and in Josiah's time the land already swarmed with them. Ahab alone was master of a good two thousand chariots of war. Next, the very process of entering on a campaign is simply detailed. It is assumed, in harmony with Numbers (1 : 3), that the whole male population over twenty years of age and capable of bearing arms is at the place of muster. It is assumed, further, in accord with instructions of the same book (26 : 2), that full lists of those subject to military duty are in the hands of the Shoterim ("officers"). It is also assumed that a priest specially designated for the purpose "the priest," again in dependence on the Book of Numbers (31 : 6), where Phinehas acted in this capacity, will be present to hearten and inspire the host with his trumpet and his brave words. It is assumed that the Shoterim, who have the muster-rolls, are empowered, not only to address the assembled levies, retain or dismiss at will such as are found eligible or ineligible for active service (with verse 6, cf. Lev. 19 : 3 f.), but also to divide and subdivide them into battalions and companies, set them in battle array, and place suitable leaders at their head. The entire arrangement, in short, is peculiarly primitive and appropriate only to the earliest periods of the commonwealth. After the rise of king, court, and mighty men of war, after Saul's second year, when three thousand chosen men were made the nucleus of a standing army, especially after David's day, when royal body-guards were customary and foreign mercenaries began to be employed, such an arrangement would have been antiquated and impossible. E. C. B. 4. The righteousness of the cause, and not the numbers in the field, is to be the foundation of trust. The Jews were going into Palestine as the Lord's host, and even though a minority sometimes, they were sure to win. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" was to be their ground of confidence. Edgar.—God's presence in battle outmatches all human forces. The source of conquest is not in the visible material of war. Victory is not on the side of the largest battalions. Mere number of combatants have as often hindered triumph as helped it. If God be ranged on the one side, the issue is a foregone event. D. D. Peace to be Offered to Foreign Cities only upon Condition of Tribute and Service. Canaanites to be Utterly Destroyed (De. 20 : 10-18). The Jewish writers frequently mention two kinds of war : that which was particularly commanded by God, as that against the nations which the Israelites were commanded to drive out ; and that which was chosen by the Jews on just provocation, or in their own defence against other people. These words, as well as the foregoing, refer to the latter of the two, as appears from verse 15 compared with verses 5, 6, 7, 8, and Nu. 32 : 7. Bp. Kaldor. 10-20. When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. An important principle is here introduced into the war-law of Israel regarding the people they fought against and the cities they besieged. With "the cities of those people which God doth give thee" in Canaan, it was to be a war of utter extermination (verses 17, 18). But when on a just occasion they went against other nations, they were first to make a proclamation of peace, which if allowed by a surrender the people would become dependent, and in the relation of tributaries the conquered nations would receive the highest blessings from alliance with the chosen people ; they would be brought to the knowledge of Israel's God and of Israel's worship, as well as a participation of Israel's privileges. But if the besieged city refused to capitulate and be taken, a universal massacre was to be made of the males, while the women and children were to be preserved and kindly treated (verses 13, 14). By this means a provision was made for a friendly and useful connection being established between the captors and the captives ; and Israel, even through her conquests, would prove a blessing to the nations. Jamieson The nations of Canaan are excepted from the merciful provisions made by this law. Remnants might be left of the cities that were very far off (verse 15), because by them they were not in so much danger of being infected with idolatry, nor was their country so directly and immediately intended in the promise. But of the cities which were given to Israel for an inheritance, no remnants must be left of their inhabitants. They will teach you to do after their abominations, to introduce their customs into the worship of the God of Israel, and by degrees to forsake him and to worship false gods; for those that dare violate the second commandment, will not long keep to the first. Strange worships open the door to strange deities. H. There is nothing left but the manner to be objected to: their wickedness accounts for the thing itself. To which objection it may be replied, that if the thing itself be just, the manner is of little signification; of little signification even to the sufferers themselves; for where is the difference, even to them, whether they were destroyed by an earthquake, a pestilence, a famine or by the hands of an enemy? Where is the difference, even to our imperfect apprehensions of Divine justice, provided it be, and is known to be, for their wickedness that they are destroyed? But this destruction, it may be said, spared neither women nor children. Is it not the same with all national visitations? Would not an earthquake, or a fire, or a plague, or a famine among them have done the same? Even in an ordinary and natural death the same thing happens. God takes away the life he lends, without regard, that we can perceive, to age, or sex, or character. But promiscuous massacres, the burning of cities, the laying waste of countries, are things dreadful to reflect upon. Who doubts it? So are all the judgments of Almighty God. The effect, in whatever way it shows itself, must necessarily be tremendous, when the Lord, as the Psalmist expresses it, "moveth out of his place to punish the wicked." But this is the point upon which we ought to rest and fix our attention; that it was for excessive, wilful, and forewarned wickedness that all this befell them, and that it is all along so declared in the history which recites it. Further, the neighboring nations were to be convinced of the supreme power of the God of Israel above the pretended gods of other nations only by His enabling the Israelites, whose God he was known and acknowledged to be, to conquer under his banner, and drive out before them those who resisted the execution of that commission with which the Israelites declared themselves to be invested—namely, the expulsion and extermination of the Canaanitish nations. This convinced surrounding countries, and all who were observers or spectators of what passed, first, that the God of Israel was a real God; secondly, that the gods which other nations worshipped were either no gods, or had no power against the God of Israel; and, thirdly, that it was he, and he alone, who possessed both the power and the will to punish, to destroy, and to exterminate from before his face both nations and individuals who gave themselves up to the crimes and wickedness for which the Canaanites were notorious. Nothing of this sort would have appeared, or with the same evidence, from an earthquake, a plague, or any natural calamity. These might not have been attributed to Divine agency at all, or not to the interposition of the God of Israel. Paley. Destruction of Fruit-Trees in War Prohibited (verses 19, 20). In a siege, where you want wood for raising batteries, spare the fruit-trees as much as possibly you can, and make use of others that are as fit for those purposes and bear no fruit. It is not fit to destroy things that can do you no injury, especially such as are useful to the support of human life. Pyle.—When in war, no wanton destruction was to be allowed. They were to build bulwarks against invaders, but were not to destroy the subsistence of a people by cutting down fruit-trees. How wonderfully humane and even tender are these regulations compared with the customs of other nations at that time! C. C.—It is wantonness that is forbidden. Trees that did not bear fruit were of course available for war, but trees that could be used for purposes of sustaining human life were to be regarded as in a sense sacred and inviolable. J. P. Leaving out of view the work of special judgment upon the Canaanitish nations, the military code of Israel has never been improved upon. Every provision was made for smoothing the rugged front of bloody strife. No assault was allowed upon a foreign city until after overtures for surrender had been made. On the acceptance of such overtures, every life was to be spared, and the nation made merely tributary. When taken even by assault, after overtures had been rejected, non-combatants were still to be spared, just as under the war code of the most enlightened nations of modern times. Who will say that such a law of war does not evince a spirit worthy of a Divine war code? Had Israel fully obeyed the Divine injunction and cast out wholly the Canaanitish nations, they would probably have had no war. All their military arrangements were for defence, not for defiance; and but for their unfaithfulness, which kept them continually embroiled till the time of David with the remnants of the people whom they had been commanded to destroy, they might have seldom, if ever, known war. S. R. FELLOWSHIP, FORBIDDEN WITH AMMONITE AND MOABITE, ALLOWED WITH EDOMITE AND EGYPTIAN. AMALEK TO BE DESTROYED. THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER AT THE PRESENTATION OF FIRST-FRUITS AND OF SECOND TITHE. SUMMARY OF ENGAGEMENTS BETWEEN JEHOVAH AND ISRAEL. The sanctity of human life is still the leading thought; and where a corpse is found "lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him," the whole land is regarded as guilty before God (verse 8) until a solemn rite be gone through. These verses prescribe the mode and form of this rite; which from the nature of the case could have place only when the people were settled in Canaan, and so is prescribed first in Deuteronomy. Espin. When a dead body was found in the field, in circumstances fitted to give rise to the suspicion of the person having come to a violent end, while yet no trace could be discovered of the murderer, it was then to be presumed that the guilt attached to the nearest city, either by the murderer having come from it or from his having found concealment in it. That city, therefore, had a certain indefinite charge of guilt lying upon it—indefinite as to the parties really concerned in the charge, but most definite and particular as regards the greatness of the crime involved in it, and the treatment due to the perpetrator. For deliberate murder the law provided no expiation. Even for the infliction of death by some fortuitous and unintentional stroke it did not appoint any rite of expiation, but only a way of escape by means of a partial exile. Here, therefore, where the question is respecting a murder, the prescribed ritual cannot contemplate a work of expiation. Nor is the language employed such as to convey that idea. The elders of the city were enjoined to go down into a valley with a stream in it, bringing with them a heifer which had never been yoked, and there strike off its head by the neck. Then, in presence of the priests, the representatives and ministers of God, they were to wash their hands over the carcass of the slain heifer in token of their innocence, and to say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. And (it is added) the blood shall be forgiven them." The forgiveness here meant was evidently forgiveness in the more general sense; they were personally cleared from the guilt, but the guilt itself was not atoned; there was a pargavion but not an expiation. And, accordingly, none of the usual sacrificial terms or acts are applied to the transaction with the heifer; even the mode of killing it was different from that followed in all the proper sacrifices. Indeed, the process was merely a symbolical action of judgment and acquittal before the priests, not as ministers of worship, but as officers of justice. For they were "chosen to minister to God, to bless the people, and to pronounce sentence as to every stroke." P. F. The heifer was not a sacrifice, since no atonement might be brought for an intentional murder. For this reason the heifer's neck was "struck off" (or broken), executed in the place of the murderer. Therefore the elders do not, in the name of the inhabitants, lay their hands on the heifer with the confession of guilt, and its blood is not sprinkled on the holy place; rather they declare by a solemn symbolical act their innocence, and in consequence the guilt, which objectively clings to the city, is removed by the symbolically atoning punishment. Gerl.—The fundamental elements of a sacrifice are wanting. There is no altar. The blood is not shed. The victim's neck is simply broken. It is an execution. Justice has done its work as far as it is possible to do it under these circumstances. The murdered man has been avenged by the whole community acting as his kinsman. The same form of words, in fact, that in a previous chapter brought to a close the execution of a wilful homicide (19:13) also concludes this ceremony. E. C. B. 9. So shalt thou put away the innocent blood.** In a well-ordered society life should be safe. When it is proved unsafe, society cannot plead "Not guilty." Locally it must be allocated, and so the city nearest the victim has the crime imputed to it. The sense of guilt is distributed territorially, and the elders, or representatives of the people, are required to clear themselves by the special rite here dedescribed. Sin has thus wider relations than to the individual who has committed it. It may lie at the door of a city or of a neighborhood, and in their collective capacity they may be required to deal with it. Elyar.—We learn: That responsibility attaches to each and all in a community for crimes committed in its midst. That the community is not absolved till every effort has been made to discover the perpetrators of crime and to bring them to justice. That the punishment of murder is death. That to ignore, connive at, or encourage crime in a community, involves the authorities in the criminality of the deeds connived at. That all parties, the people (represented by the elders), the magistrates (judges), the Church (priests), are alike interested in bringing criminals to justice. Orr. Such was the criminal law of the Hebrews—stern indeed, but not "inhuman" or unjust. It will not find favor with sentimental apologists for crime; for it was not shorn of its terror by those easy pardons which take away the dread of punishment, and almost the sense of guilt. Moses believed in law, and that law was made to be obeyed. No law-breaker found indulgence from him. Yet never was a lawgiver more gentle to the children of sorrow, and "to all who are desolate and oppressed." Never did the awful form of justice seem bending with more of compassion for human weakness and infirmity, and for every grief and pain. It is this mingling of the tender and the terrible that gives to the Hebrew law a character so unique—a majesty that awes, with a gentleness that savors more of parental affection than of severity. Nor was that law given to the Israelites alone. It was an inheritance for all ages and generations. That mighty arm was to protect the oppressed so long as human governments endure. Moses was the king of legislators, and to the code which he left rulers of all times have turned for instruction. Thence Alfred and Charlemagne derived statutes for their realms. To that code turned alike the Puritans under Cromwell, who founded the Commonwealth of England, and the Pilgrim Fathers, who founded the Commonwealths of New England. Field. Hanging was not properly one of the punishments inflicted by the Jewish Law : they were four ; stoning, burning, beheading, and strangling the criminal as he stood on the ground. But none were hanged till they were dead. And as the Jewish rabbies and many Christian commentators say, only idolators and blasphemers were so treated ; having been first stoned, which was reckoned the most severe punishment of all. And as their crimes were the most heinous and offensive to God, this addition of hanging them afterward was appointed, as a token to denote the Divine displeasure against those criminals ; who are therefore said to be "accursed of God," or "the curse of God"—that is, execrable to him. Ward.—The placing of the body on a tree was not that which made the person accursed, but was an external token of his being an accursed one. In the placing of Jesus on the cross, the sin and madness of the world were overruled, to give unwitting expression to the highest truth. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us ; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3 : 13). If not a sinner, Christ was treated as if he were one. This is a fact of essential importance in the work of Christ for man's salvation (2 Cor. 5 : 21). Orr. DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER. CITIES OF REFUGE FOR ACCIDENTAL OR JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE. PURGATION OF A HIDDEN MURDER. Among the many provisions of the Deuteronomic code inculcating humanity, or conceived especially in a humane spirit, is that regarding a complaint of unchastity previous to marriage, preferred by a husband against a newly-married wife (22 : 13-21). One main object of it seems to have been to protect an otherwise helpless woman against the brutality of a selfish and unscrupulous lord to whom she was legally bound. The rigorous punishment inflicted on the plaintiff, if he failed to make out his case, the fine (cf. Ex. 21 : 22), the beating (cf. De. 25 : 1-3), and the denial of the right of future separation on any terms (24 : 1-4) bring the statute into line with other enactments of the present code and bespeak for it the same origin. E. C. B. 29,21. If the charge made against the wife prove true, then she is to be stoned to death for her sin. Immorality was really treason toward the Divine King, it was incompatible with his kingdom, and so was put into the category of capital crimes. The morale of the Theocracy was really higher in idea than that of any other kingdom then or now existing. Edgar. Adultery (Lev. 18 : 20 ; 20 : 10. De. 22 : 22-29). Incest (Lev. 20 : 11, 12, 14, 17-21). Lying with bond, betrothed, etc. (Ex. 22 : 16, 17. Lev. 19 : 20-22). Lying with Mankind (Lev. 18 : 22 ; 20 : 13). With a Beast (Ex. 22 : 19. Lev. 20 : 15, 16 ; 18 : 23). Prostitution of Daughter, etc. (Lev. 19 : 29. De. 23 : 17, 18). Of these the first, second, fourth, and fifth were punished with death to the guilty parties, one or both. No blame can lie against the Scriptures because they legislate on such detestable matters. The blame must lie at the door of depraved humanity, which perpetrates such deeds and makes Divine legislation necessary. The obscenity appertains to the vices, only praise belongs to the remedy. An. Unnatural lusts, sodomy, and bestiality are sins not to be named or thought of without the utmost abhorrence imaginable. Other sins level men with the beasts, but these sink them much lower. That ever there should have been occasion for the making of these laws, and that since they are published they should ever have been broken, is the perpetual reproach and scandal of the human nature: the giving of men up to these vile affections was frequently the punishment of their idolatries; so the apostle shows (Rom. 1 : 24). H.—There are specific forms of vice prohibited by express enactments in the Mosaic Law which to many are simply inconceivable. Such was the case with the writer till assured by one who knew, and whose word was to be trusted, that the grossest and most beastly of all is an actual, well-known, and widespread fact of human life in the heart of Asia to this day. And to an angel's eye are the gilded, sugared, ornamented vices of a high civilization, at its most populous centres in our own day, any less revolting? Herrick.—Human nature, wherever without cultivation and without the revelation of God, is everything that is vile in principle and detestable in practice. Nor would any part of the habitable globe materially differ from Egypt and Canaan had they not that rule of righteousness, the revealed Law of God, and life and immortality been brought to light by the Gospel among them. From these accounts, for which we could easily find parallels in ancient Greece and Italy, we may see the absolute need of a Divine revelation, without which man even in his best estate differs little from the brute. A. C. Lev. 18 : 24-30 ; 20 : 22-24. The land designed and consecrated for his people by Jehovah is here impersonated, and represented as vomiting forth its present inhabitants, in consequence of their indulgence in the abominations that have been mentioned. The iniquity of the Canaanites was now full. The Israelites in this place and throughout the chapter are exhorted to a pure and holy life, on the ground that Jehovah, the Holy One, is their God and that they are his people. It is upon this high sanction that they are peremptorily forbidden to defile themselves with the pollutions of the heathen. Clark.—By the coming doom of the Canaanites he would have them take warning. If guilty of similar crimes they might anticipate a more aggravated and fearful judgment, according to the declared principle of the Divine administration, "Because you only have I known of all the nations of the earth, therefore will I punish your iniquities." Bush. God has made our nature, in every part thereof, for himself. In making man male and female, God has opened up to each wondrous possibilities of love, of holiness, of usefulness, by each rendering to the other due honor in accordance with Divine Law. By as much as the joy and culture are great when God's laws are obeyed, by so much are the misery and debasement great when they are disobeyed. He who trifles with himself or with others in regard to the holiest of all human relations will find that sins of impurity nip his nature in the bud, embitter life beyond all power of expression, and render true greatness altogether impossible. One sin will drag the whole man after it. C. C.—A close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from the infection of gross sin. The more we taste of the sweetness and feel of the power of holy ordinances, the less attachment we shall have to the forbidden pleasures of sinners' abominable customs. It is the grace of God only that will secure us, and that grace is to be expected only in the use of the means of grace. Nor does God ever leave any to their own hearts' lusts, till they have first left him and his institutions. H. IDOLS AND ALTARS TO BE DESTROYED, IDOLATERS, ENTICERS, FALSE PROPHETS, AND WONDER-WORKERS PUT TO DEATH, AND IDOLATROUS CITIES TO BE BURNED. MAGICAL ARTS AND DIVINATION CONDEMNED; ALSO CHILD-SACRIFICE TO MOLECH. De. 23 3 AN Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the LORD ; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the assembly of the LORD for ever : because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt ; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam ; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite ; for he is thy brother : thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian ; because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children of the third generation that are born unto them shall enter into the assembly of the LORD. 25 17 Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way as ye came forth out of Egypt ; how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary ; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven ; thou shalt not forget. 26 1 And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein ; that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt bring in from thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee ; and thou shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. And thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the land which the LORD swore unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God. And thou shalt answer and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number ; and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous : and the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage : and we cried unto the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression : and the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders : and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it down before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God : and thou shalt rejoice in all the good which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in the midst of thee. 12. When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithe of thine increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then thou shalt give it unto the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled ; and thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have put away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me : I have not transgressed any of thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them : I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I put away thereof, being unclean, nor given thereof for the dead : I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the ground which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. 16. This day the LORD thy God commandeth thee to do these statutes and judgements: thou 17 shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and that thou shouldest walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgements, and hearken unto his voice: 18 and the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be a peculiar people unto himself, as he hath 19 promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken. Fellowship Forbidden with the Ammonite and Moabite. As God had prohibited his people from all connection and alliance with the Canaanitish nations, so he now distinguishes between the aliens, and shows upon what conditions and whom they might admit into fellowship. The Moabites and Ammonites he altogether rejects; because they not only refused the common rites of humanity to the people but also took arms against them, and even hired Balaam to curse them. They were the descendants of Lot, and ought to have embraced the children of Abra- ham as brethren. It was inexcusable in them to make a violent attack upon those who had voluntarily offered them peace; who had prom- ised by their messengers that they would make their way without injury or wrong; and who finally had besought that a passage might be granted them provided they honestly paid the price of bread and water; although doubtless God took vengeance rather on their impiety than their cruelty, since they had not only en- deavored to make his goodness of none effect but also to annihilate his faithfulness. Calv. —Such was the mark set upon these people for their offence in the matter of Balaam; and Balaam's infamy is perpetuated by the same law, being expressly mentioned in it as the man who had been "hired to curse God's people." Waterland. G. Israel was not to seek—i.e., care for and use means to promote the welfare of these nations. Individuals, however, of these nations might be naturalized in Israel, and as proselytes enter the congregation, as the case of Ruth proves. It was against the nations, as such, that this ban was directed, and this they had brought on themselves by choosing to be ene- mies of Israel when they might have been friends and allies. W. L. A — This law forbids only the naturalization of those against whom it is directed. It does not forbid their dwelling in the land; and seems to refer rather to the nations than to individuals. It was not under- stood at any rate to interdict marriage with a Moabitess. Ruth, however, and her sister were doubtless proselytes. Such a law would cer- tainly never have suggested itself to the mind of a writer after the times of David, whose great- grandmother was a Moabitess. Espin. The Edomites and Egyptians have not so deep a mark of displeasure put upon them as the Moabites and Ammonites. If an Edomite or Egyptian turned proselyte, his grandchildren should be looked upon as members of the con- gregation of the Lord to all intents and pur- poses. H.—The Edomite, as descended from Esau, a twin brother of Jacob, and the Egyptian, as of that nation which had for long shown hospitality to Joseph and his brethren, were not to be objects of abhorrence. The Edomites had indeed shown themselves unfriendly to Israel in refusing a passage through their land, but had not actively resisted them, and the tie of kindred was therefore to be respected. Espin. —The Edomites remained free from the gross- er kinds of idolatry, while Lot's descendants, from that impure connection, sank into the more horrible idolatrous abominations. Gerl. In the mention of nationalities that are eligible or ineligible to the privilege of Jewish citizen- ship, the attitude assumed by our Lawgiver toward these nations does not seem unnatural, if he be Moses. But no writer in his senses could have seriously taken it after the time of Solomon. Because of their treatment of Israel on their march from Egypt, the Ammonite and Moabite are forever shut out from citizenship among the chosen people. The Edomite is ad- mitted to it after a short probation; so, too, the Egyptian—the former on the ground of kindred blood, the latter on that of hospitality to the Hebrew strangers. E. C. B. Amalek to be Destroyed. If a man put away his wife because she did not any longer please him, and she became the wife of another man, by whom also she was put away, or from whom she was severed by his death, the first husband might not remarry her, for that would be an abomination in the eyes of the Lord, and would bring sin on the land. This is not a law sanctioning or regulating divorce; that is simply assumed as what might occur, and what is here regulated is the treatment by the first husband of a woman who has been divorced a second time. 1-4. These verses should be read as one continuous sentence, thus: "If a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she doth not find favor in his eyes, because of some uncleanness in her, and he hath written her a bill of divorcement, and given it in her hand, and sent her out of his house; and if she hath departed out of his house, and hath gone and become another man's; and if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband who took her to be his wife die: her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife," etc. W. L. A.—In the Hebrew these four verses form but one period, the first part of which extends to the end of verse 3. A right of divorce is not here introduced, but there is only mentioned what was the custom as Moses found it. He let the practice continue, and suffered the putting away by reason of the hardness of their hearts, while in the history of the creation he had taught the indissolubility of the bond (Gen. 2:24). Gurl.—This regulation is remarkable alike for its concessive and its restrictive character. It assumes the prevalence of divorce—a fact also recognized in a number of other laws of this and the Levitical code (Lev. 21:7; De. 22:19, 29). It assumes that it was carried on with some degree of formality. And such a custom, with the form it took of giving a "bill of divorce-ment," this law does not forbid; neither does it command it. Herein our Lord corrected the Pharisees' false quotation of the Pentateuch, changing their "Why did Moses command?" into "Moses suffered." In its restrictions, on the other hand, the law assumes the sacredness of the marital tie and provides against an obvious tendency to break and renew it at will. Its sole prohibition, however, is of the remarriage of divorced persons after a second marriage had been entered upon by the former wife. This, as the words "after that she has been defiled" (cf. Nu. 5:20) indicate, it looked upon as a form of adultery and not to be tolerated. The law tends directly to the preservation of the original tie; and, in case it is severed, plainly encourages a single life in view of a possible later reunion. E. C. B. The Mosaic legislation permitted a certain liberty of divorce; but our Lord only brought into clear relief, and made emphatic for all time, its determining ethical principle, when he declared that the Mosaic permission was an unwilling concession to the "hardness" of the people's heart; that "from the beginning" marriage was not so contemplated and constituted, that man may not "put asunder what God hath joined together;" that divorce is permissible only "for the cause of fornication;" that separation for any other cause is an incentive to adultery, and that whoever contracts marriage with the guilty party commits adultery. Behrends. If a man who was married died without issue, his surviving brother was required to marry the widow, so as to raise up a successor to the deceased, who should be his heir. The brother who refused this duty must be publicly disgraced. The design of this institution—which was not originated by Moses, but came down from early times (Gen. 38:8), and is to be found among other nations than the Jews, and that even in the present day—was to preserve a family from becoming extinct and to secure the property of a family from passing into the hands of a stranger. 7-10. If the man refused to marry the widow of his deceased brother, he was free to do so; but the woman had her redress. She was to bring the matter before the elders of the town, sitting as magistrates at the gate, and they were to summon the man and speak to him, and if he persisted in his refusal, the woman was to take his shoe from off his foot, and spit before his face, and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house. The taking off of the shoe of the man by the woman was an act of indignity to him; it amounted to a declaration that he was not worthy to stand in his brother's place, and was scornfully rejected by the woman herself. W. L. A. #### The Jealousy Offering (Nu. 5:11-31). We find among the covenant people adultery forbidden in the Ten Commandments, and in the more full explanation of the Law, threatened with death. The prohibitions of marriage in cases of near kinship are intended to protect the holy family bond, which is founded on marriage. The whole constitution of the people of Israel, with their tables of genealogies, resting, as this constitution did, on the patriarchal family unity, necessarily inculcated the great importance of a pure and unmixed descent. Hence the appointment of the jealousy-offering, which was intended to bring to light the truth of the suspicion of adultery. It is remarkable that the woman must appear with an offering before the Lord. This was an offering of barley with wheat-meal—no oil, no frankincense, might be on it. She lay under grave suspicion. In this, at least, she was not blameless. Yet she might bring the offering, since she was only suspected, not judged. By making the offering she confessed herself pure before God; she appealed to him to defend her innocency; in case of guilt, she challenged his judgment to fall upon her more heavily. Holding the offering in her hand, she must take the oath that she is clean, which is the main point of the whole transaction. All besides is intended to make the perjury in this case the more fearful. Therefore she must now drink the water wherein is placed dust taken from the floor of the sanctuary, and figuratively charged with a curse. The meaning is not that the water has thereby received any actual power to do her any injury: it was rather an earnest and token of the Divine judgment which now passed over her. From the moment of drinking it she might be sure that, as certainly as the curse had figuratively passed into the water and the water into her, so surely would God know how to find her out with his punishments. Gerl. The national covenant had its parallel in every family of Israel, in the marriage-tie that bound together man and wife. This relation was chosen as an expressive image of that in which the whole people stood to God. It was, therefore, in accordance with the whole spirit of the Mosaic legislation that the strongest enactments should be made respecting this domestic relation, that the behavior of man and wife to each other throughout the families of Israel might present a faithful image of the behavior Israel should maintain toward God; or if otherwise, that exemplary judgment might be inflicted. Not only must ascertained guilt be punished, but strong suspicions of guilt must be brought by solemn appeal to God. Therefore it was that the ritual respecting the trial and offering of jealousy was prescribed. Of course, the actual infliction of the curse depended upon the will and power of God, whose interference was at the time so solemnly invoked. But the whole service was fitted to convey a deep impression of the jealous care with which God watched over even the most secret violations of the marriage vow, and the certainty with which he would avenge them. P. F The Amalekites were a kindred people (Gen. 36 : 15, 16) ; and living as they did in the peninsula of Sinai, they could not but have well known the mighty acts God had done for his people in Egypt and the Red Sea ; yet they manifested from the first a persistent hostility to Israel (cf. Ex. 17 : 8 ; Nu. 14 : 45). They provoked therefore the sentence here pronounced, which was executed at last by Saul. Espin. (See Section 99.)—The crime of the Amalekites was falling upon the hindmost, who were faint and weary. It was an act of cruelty untempered by any mercy ; and the decree of God is their extermination because they were merciless. “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy” (Jas. 2 : 13). Elgar. Of the gifts which had to be presented at the sanctuary there were two specially connected with the social and domestic life of the people—viz., the first-fruits and the second tithe. To these Moses here refers for the purpose of prescribing certain forms with which the presentation of the gift was to be accompanied by the offerer. W. L. A. Moses puts into the mouth of the people prayers in reference to the gifts most closely associated with their temporal domestic life—the first-fruits, and the second tithes—by which a lively consciousness and recognition of the entire relation of Israel to their Lord and King are declared. In the first-fruits is expressed their continuous homage, as regards all earthly possession. While each person acknowledged this by his act, he was at the same time, as member of the united nation, to declare on what gracious favors of God this entire possession rested. The second tithe was designed to change every Israelitish house into a sanctuary, and at the same time to spread a holy, joyful feeling of communion among the whole people, with which the continuance of the Divine blessing on his people was closely connected. Both prayers, becoming not in letter but in spirit a part of the people’s customary devotions, would contribute in no slight degree to keep alive outward worship, and to sanctify their whole daily life. Geri. 1-11. The dedication of the first-fruits.** A beautiful religious service is here associated with the dedication of the first-fruits. It was to be an act of worship. There was to be the appearance before the priest, the acknowledgment of God’s great bounty to the forefathers as well as to the worshipper himself, the presentation of the first-fruits as a return of God’s gifts to him, the setting of the basket before God, and the rejoicing in the Divine presence. Elgar.—Of the first-fruits the Israelite was to take a portion, and placing it in a basket, to bring it to the place of the sanctuary, where it was to be received by the attendant priest. The offerer was to accompany his presentation with the declaration, “I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord swore unto our fathers for to give us ;” and the priest having set the basket down before the altar, the offerer was to make confession and prayer, gratefully acknowledging the Divine favor showed to Israel in choosing them to be a great nation, in delivering them out of Egypt, and bringing them into a rich and fertile land ; and along with this his bounty to the individual who now presented the first-fruits of his land unto the Lord. W. L. A. This offering, put so impressively upon its great historic grounds—the preservations and mercies with which God had crowned their nation in fulfilling the promises made to the national fathers, became no unmeaning service. All is instinct with life. Those children of the old patriarchs reposing under their vine and fig-tree in the land flowing with milk and honey had a wonderful history, and God meant to have their ritual of worship link itself continually with that history and take quickening impulses from those impressive associations. H. C. Everything round the Hebrew in his home reminded him of the exuberant kindness of his God. The land which he possessed was land which Jehovah had given him. The temple was the place which Jehovah had chosen “to place his name there.” The priest was God’s gift. The corn and fruit of the land were produce “which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Each man was taught to look on himself as belonging unto God. Of everything the absolute Proprietor was God. Their history, their deliverance, their security, their renown, were all due to God. Behind every visible object, behind every visible event, they discerned God. D. D. 5. A Syrian ready to perish was my father.** The reference is shown by the context to be to Jacob, as the ancestor in whom particularly the family of Abraham began to develop into a nation. Jacob is called a Syrian (lit. Aramaean), not only because of his own long residence in Syria with Laban, as our Lord was called a Nazarene because of his residence at Nazareth, but because he there married and had his children; and might be said accordingly to belong to that more than to any other land. Espin.—Jacob might properly be called a "Syrian" as having lived full twenty years with Laban the Syrian in the great Aram of the East. The point of his history where he was "ready to perish" was that of the great famine in Canaan which drove him and his household into Egypt for bread. H. C.—They do not count their origin from Abraham, but from Jacob, in whose person God's grace shone forth more brightly; for being compelled to fly from the land of Canaan he had spent a good part of his life in Syria (for he did not return home till he was old), and being again driven into Egypt by the famine he had at length died there. The land had not, therefore, fallen to them by hereditary right nor by their own efforts; their father Jacob not having been permitted even to sojourn there. Calo.—The sum of this acknowledgment amounts to this: That their possession of that land was entirely owing to the bounty of God, and was not left them by their ancestors; for Jacob, from whom they had the name of Israelites, was forced to fly into Syria in a poor condition, and upon his return with his sons was not able to leave this land to them in possession, but was forced into Egypt, where his posterity was sorely afflicted. But by the mercy of God they increased there, and were by him miraculously brought into this good land. Bp. Kidder. 9. He hath given us this land. He must not only give thanks for his own lot, but for the land in general which was given to Israel; not only for this year's profits, but for the ground itself which produced them, which God had graciously granted to his ancestors and entailed upon his posterity. The comfort we have in our particular enjoyments should lead us to be thankful for our share in public peace and plenty; and with present mercies we should bless God for the former mercies we remember, and the further mercies we expect and hope for. H. A land flowing with milk and honey. Under a good government, the produce of the Holy Land would exceed all calculation. Its perennial harvests, the salubrity of its climate, its matchless plains, hills, and vales, prove it to be a garden of the Lord. Clarke.—Palestine, in the age of its wealth, was a sampler of the world; it was a museum counting many lands in one. Every spring its hill-sides are gay with the embroidery of flowers—the resplendent crocus, the scented hyacinth, the anemone, the narcissus, the daffodil, the florid poppy, and the ranunculus, the tulip, the lily, and the rose. These jewels of the spring morning, these children of the dew, bedded in divans of sweet thyme, invite millions of bees, and the most showy of the insect orders; flowers, perfumes, butterflies, birds of song—all things humble and beautiful here flourish, and are safe; for man seldom intrudes upon this smiling wilderness. I T. 10. How suitable is this profession to the offering of the first-fruits! Here is an acknowledgment of the goodness of God; of their own unworthiness to receive so great goodness of the truth of God's promises, and God's faithfulness, in fulfilling his covenant. What useful instruction, what proper praise do these few words express! "Now, behold, I have brought the first-fruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me." Lowman. The giving of the first-fruits to God is a token of the sanctification of all we have to right and holy uses. There is no better guarantee of a wise and right use of our substance than the conscientious dedication of first-fruits to our God. He who is conscientious enough in this respect may be safely relied on to spend rightly the rest of his gains, because the same conscientiousness which marks his first spendings will mark all the others. C. C.—Gratitude for God's gifts must be practical. Words of thankfulness are cheap, unless accompanied by deeds. Songs of praise are sweet minstrelsy in the ear of God, but they must spring from the heart; and if the heart is grateful, the hands will be full of offerings. The first-fruits of all our increase belong to God as a matter of right. But duty is delight. This requirement is representative. We may not be husbandmen; still our first-fruits are due. The first-fruits of our time belong to God—the fresh dewy hours of every day. The first of our gains belong to God. Say not, "They are mine." Nay! they are his. The first-fruits of mental strength—our youth; the best of all we have belong to him. D. D. 11. Thou shalt rejoice. God intends that his followers shall be happy; that they shall eat their bread with gladness and singleness of heart, praising him. A. C.—True religion does not frown on our joy. It regulates but does not seek to banish the pleasures of the festive board, and the flow of the soul connected therewith. The sanctuary services were associated with feasts, in which religious motives were expected to predominate. The eating was "before the Lord," and the guests were invariably to include the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Festivities should be so conducted that God's presence can be invoked, and his blessing asked on all that is said and done. Orr. When our gains are received in a right spirit and spent in a right way we may rejoice therein before the Lord. God hath given us "all things richly to enjoy." And men who know nothing of the Christian consecration of all things to God do not know how to enjoy what they possess. Earthly good will be enjoyed when one knows that God's blessing is resting on him and on all he has. Rich as may be his earthly good, though he enjoys it while it lasts, yet he can afford to hold it with a loose hand, for it is not his all, and he knows that when he is called to part with it he will find richer treasure still laid up for him in heaven. C. C. Through all God's gifts his intention is human gladness. This gladness is fostered and fed by proportionate offerings. For this habit of religious offering will serve to draw away our confidence from our material possessions, and place it in the living God. This will strengthen and establish joy. It is surely better to trust the found that the channel—the source than the stream. If every man on earth is not brimful of joy, it is not God's fault. To rejoice in God is our duty and our privilege. And this joy is contagious. "Thou shalt rejoice, . . . thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you." Joy makes men generous, and the recipients of our generosity will share our joy. There will be joyous action and reaction. We are to be the channels through which God will pour his joy into others' hearts. In return they will give us their prayers. D. D. The great and mighty cause of God, even that of righteousness, truth, and love, has to be maintained and spread in the world by the efforts and offerings of those "put in trust with the Gospel." And it will not be possible to be faithful to the claims of God and the demands of the times without a conscientious, systematic, proportionate giving of our gains to the Lord. C. C. *Protestation and Prayer with the Second Tithe Concerning the disposal of their tithe the third year, we had the Law before (De. 14 : 28, 29). The second tithe which the other two years was to be spent in extraordinaries at the feasts was to be spent the third year at home, in entertaining the poor. Now because this was done from under the eye of the priests, and a great confidence was put in the people's honesty that they would dispose of it according to the Law, to the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless (verse 12), it is therefore required that when at the next feast after they appeared before the Lord, they should there testify, in a religious manner, that they had fully administered and been true to their trust. They must make a solemn protestation to that purport (verse 13). That no hallowed things were hoarded up, "I have brought them away out of mine house, nothing now remains there but my own part." That the poor, and particularly poor ministers, poor strangers, and poor widows, had had their part according to the commandment. Then we may take the comfort of our enjoyments, when God has thus had his dues out of them. This is a commandment which must not be transgressed, no, not with an excuse of its being forgotten. H. 14. This was the strongest possible protestation that he had dealt faithfully in the matter of tithing and consecrated things, and in charities to the poor. He had not allowed himself to divert anything to other uses, not even by the most pressing and unforeseen emergencies. It is here implied that times of mourning "for the dead" were expensive, and also that the stern law of custom obliged the bereaved to defray those expenses, however onerous. The words, "nor given aught thereof for the dead," are explained by a curious custom still observed with great care. On certain days after the funeral, large quantities of corn and other food are cooked in a particular manner, and sent to all the friends, however numerous, in the name of the dead. Thompson.—The obliging of them to make this solemn protestation at the three years' end would be an obligation upon them to deal faithfully, knowing that they must be called upon thus to purge themselves. It is our wisdom to keep conscience clear at all times, that when we come to give up our account, we may lift up our face without spot. The Jews say that this protestation of their integrity was to be made with a low voice, because it looked like a self-commendation; but that the foregoing confession of God's goodness was to be made with a loud voice to his glory. He that durst not make this protestation must bring his trespass-offering (Lev. 5 : 15). 15. To this solemn protestation they must add a solemn prayer, not for themselves but for God's people Israel; for in the common peace and prosperity every particular person prospers and has peace. We must learn from hence to be public-spirited in prayer, and to wrestle with God for blessings, for the land and nation, and for the universal Church, which we are directed to have an eye to in our prayers, as the Israel of God (Gal. 6 : 16). H. Summary of Divine Requirements, and of Engagements between Jehovah and his People. 16-19. A brief and earnest exhortation by way of conclusion to the second and longest discourse of the book. The people are reminded that their truth was plighted to God, as God's covenant was on his part established toward them. Moses entreats them therefore to be faithful, that God too might manifest his faithfulness in exalting them as he had promised. Espin.—As they had entered into covenant with God, and had thereby pledged themselves to obedience to all that he had enjoined, so he on his part had pledged himself to be their Benefactor, who would fulfil to them all his gracious promises, and would exalt them above all the nations of the earth. W. L. A. 16. Here are commandments, statutes, and judgments appointed by God. From beginning to end this is the distinct declaration of Moses and the postulate of the Hebrew faith. That the Law was received from Sinai is, historically, indisputable. This effort to educate the people in righteousness was then, and remains still, the only attempt ever made to start into being a new nation with God alone for its acknowledged king, righteousness alone for the cornerstone of its polity, and a free and holy brotherhood alone for its citizenship. In reference to worship, there was the revealed law of sacrifice as the ground of acceptance. In regard to life, the rule was, "Love to God and love to man." It is precisely so now. Just as beneath the Law there lay unrepealed the Divine Abrahamic promise, so along with the Gospel there is the rule unrepealed, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." There was a gospel with the Law; there is a law with the Gospel. C. C. 17. Thou hast avouched. Lit. "made to say," the word occurs in this form only in this and next verse. The sense is: "Thou hast given occasion to the Lord to say that he is thy God"—i.e., by promising that he shall be so. Espin.—Thou hast caused Jehovah this day to say to be a God unto thee—i.e., thou hast given occasion to him to declare himself to be thy God, and (as a consequence of this) that thou shouldst walk in his ways and keep his commandments. In declaring that he was their God, he virtually declared also that they were to be wholly obedient to him. 18.** So, on the other hand, God had given Israel occasion to say that they were his special people, his treasured possession (cf. Ex. 19 : 5, 6), whose it was, as such, to keep all his commandments, and to whom he would be faithful to fulfil all that he had promised. W. L. A. The Lord has avouched, not only taken, but publicly owned thee to be his Segullah, his peculiar people, as he has promised thee—that is, according to the true intent and meaning of the promise. Now their obedience was not only the condition of this favor and of the continuance of it (if they were not obedient, God would disown them and cast them off), but it was also the principal design of this favor. "He has avouched thee on purpose that thou shouldst keep his commandments, that thou mightest have both the best directions and the best encouragements in religion." Thus we are elected to obedience (1 Pet. 1 : 2), chosen that we should be holy (Eph. 1 : 4), purified a peculiar people, that we might not only do good works, but be zealous in them (Tit. 2 : 14). Two things God is here said to design in avouching them to be his peculiar people (verse 19). To make them high, and in order to that to make them holy; for holiness is true honor and the only way to everlasting honor. To make them high above all nations. That they might be a holy people, separated for God, devoted to him, and employed continually in his service. This God aimed at in taking them to be his people; so that if they did not keep his commandments, they received all this grace in vain. H. Covenant with God involves engagement to obedience. It did so under the Law. It does so under the Gospel. "New obedience" is the proof of true discipleship. Every real believer will seek to render it. It is a condition of ultimate salvation. Covenant with God involves a relation of peculiar nearness. God chooses us, in Christ, to a relation of nearness so remarkable that it has no counterpart, save in the Son's relation to the Father. The saints are his peculiar treasure. He is their "Shield," and their "exceeding Great Reward." Covenant with God secures high honor and blessedness. Great distinction was in store for Israel, should it prove obedient. God says he will make it high above all nations, "in praise, and in name, and in honor." Obedience, honor, blessedness, are three ideas ultimately ineseeable. The "glory, honor, immortality" of heaven are for those who persevere in well-doing (Rom. 2 : 7), for "an holy people." The honors in store for obedient Israel, great as they were, are not to be compared with the "exceeding and eternal weight of glory" now revealed as the inheritance of believers. Orr. With this solemn exchange of pledges as a renewal of covenant this second and most extended address of Moses is closed. B. STONE MONUMENTS INSCRIBED WITH THE LAW TO BE ERECTED ON MOUNT EBAL. BLESSINGS AND CURSINGS, AS SANCTIONS OF THE LAW, TO BE PROCLAIMED ON GERIZIM AND EBAL. TWELVE CURSES TO BE PRONOUNCED ON EBAL. De. 27 1 And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandment which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister : and thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over ; that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of thy fathers, hath promised thee. And it shall be when ye are passed over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones : thou shalt lift up no iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of unhewn stones : and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD thy God : and thou shalt sacrifice peace offerings, and shalt eat there ; and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly. 9 And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Keep silence, and hearken, O Israel ; this day thou art become the people of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. 11 And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are passed over Jordan ; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin : and these shall stand upon mount Ebal for the curse ; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall answer, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice, 15 Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and setteth it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. 16 Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. 17 Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen. 18 Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen. 19 Cursed be he that wresteth the judgement of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen. 20 Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife ; because he hath uncovered his father's skirt And all the people shall say, Amen. 21 Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen. 22 Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. 23 Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen. 24 Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour in secret. And all the people shall say, Amen. 25 Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen. 26. Cursed be he that confirmeth not the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen. Ch. 27. The Law having been reiterated with special reference to the circumstances of the people when settled in the promised land, Moses in a third discourse, contained in chs. 27-30, proceeds more specially to dwell on its sanctions. In these chapters he sets before Israel in striking and elaborate detail the blessings which would ensue upon faithfulness to the covenant, and the curses which disobedience would involve. The present chapter introduces this portion of the book by enjoining the erection of a stone monument on which the Law should be inscribed as soon as the people took possession of the promised inheritance. Espin. Stone Monuments Inscribed with the Law to be Erected on Mount Ebal (verses 1-10). As the first law had been followed by a solemn ratification of the covenant when the altar and the twelve pillars were erected at the base of Sinai, so Moses gave directions for a still more solemn ratification when they should come into the land. They were to "set up great stones, and plaister them with plaister, and write upon them all the words of this law." These stones were to be "set up in Mount Ebal," and an altar built there, and burnt-offerings and peace-offerings presented. J. M. G.—After having taken possession of the land conferred upon them by God, that they should make monuments of stone, plaster them, engrave upon them "all the words of this law," and erect them, together with an altar of unhewn stones, upon Mount Ebal, as an enduring testimony against the sins of the people, should they ever apostatize from God. These stones of memorial, with the altar for burnt-offering, were to be, on the part of the people, the sealing of their covenant with the Lord; and just as by the tables of the Law deposited in the ark of the covenant, but withdrawn from the popular view, so here, by public and ostensible monuments, were Israel to avouch themselves the Lord's people, and bound to obey his laws and judgments. C. G. B. The erection of the stones as here prescribed, and the inscription of the Law on those stones, was a symbolical act declaring on the part of the people that they took possession of the land by virtue of their covenant with God, and on condition of their own faithfulness thereto. These acts, as also the preservation of the two tables in the ark of the covenant (cf. 31:26), were witness against the people in case they should break their vows. Espin. 1. These instructions Moses gives in conjunction with the elders of Israel, who are associated with him here, because on them would devolve the obligation to see to the fulfilment of what the Law enjoined after Moses had ceased to be the ruler and leader of the people. 2. On the day when ye shall pass over Jordan—i.e., at the time; "day" is here used in a wide sense. Thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister. The stones, the number of which is not specified, were to be large, because much was to be inscribed upon them, and they were to be covered with a coating of lime or gypsum, in order to secure a smooth white surface on which the inscription might be clearly depicted. Such a mode of publishing laws or edicts was common in ancient times. Pillars of stone or metal, on which laws were inscribed, are frequently mentioned by the classical writers. W. L. A.—The stones here named are not those of which the altar was to be built, but are to serve as a separate monument witnessing to the fact that the people took possession of the land by virtue of the Law inscribed on them and with an acknowledgment of its obligations. Espin.—A careful examination of ch. 27:4, 8, and Josh. 8:30-32, will lead to the opinion that the Law was written upon or in the plaster with which these pillars were coated. This could easily be done, and such writing was common in ancient times. I have seen specimens of it certainly more than two thousand years old, and still as distinct as when they were first inscribed on the plaster. Thompson. 4. The stones erected on Ebal. But why on Ebal, the mount of cursing? Had there been a law which could have given life, "verily," Paul says, "righteousness should have been by the Law." In that case, the appropriate place for the erection of the stones would have been Gerizim—the mount of blessing. But the Law could not give life; as requiring perfect obedience it could only condemn. Its principal function was to give "knowledge of sin." Hence the appropriate place for the stones was on the mount of cursing. Orr. 5-7. Besides the monumental stones, an altar of whole stones, on which no tool had passed, was to be erected, and burnt-offerings and peace-offerings were to be presented as at the establishment of the covenant at Sinai, fol. lowed by the statutory festive entertainment. W. L. A.—As the Law testified to sin, so the sacrifices testified to grace—to the provision in mercy which lay within the covenant for the removal of guilt. Burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, as well as the sin-offerings, included the idea of propitiation. The burnt-offerings and peace-offerings testified—the one to the entire consecration of heart and life which is the condition of acceptable service; the other, to the peace and fellowship with God which, on the ground of sacrifice, are attained through consecration and obedience. Orr. Side by side with the records of a law which demands perfect righteousness, there is the altar and its sacrifice thereon, speaking to the people of a Divine provision for forgiving the penitent. The penitent is set free from the curse of law, that he may ever after co-operate with God in honoring the Law from whose curse he has been redeemed. 8. Write very plainly.** In the books which Moses left behind him there was a revelation of the Divine mind and will so clear and distinct that no one reading even the Pentateuch with a loyal faith need ever have been at a loss to know that the ground of his trust was the forgiving love of God, and that the duty of life was summed up in love to God and love to man. Later teachings are given with increasing clearness; those of the prophets, of our Lord, and of the apostles. In all, the main teachings are given “very plainly.” The plainness of Scripture is not of that kind which men outgrow as they get older. Those very passages which charm childhood with their simplicity, come to have a fuller and deeper meaning for the “old disciple.” C. C. 9,10. When Israel renewed the covenant with the Lord, by solemnly setting up the Law in Canaan, it became thereby the nation of God, and bound itself at the same time to hearken to the voice of the Lord, and keep his commandments, as it had already done. W. L. A.—They were bound by what God had done for them, and by the vows which on different occasions they had taken on themselves. They were his by covenant with the fathers. He had made them his by redemption from Egypt. He had covenanted with them at Sinai. The covenant being broken, he had at Moses’ intercession graciously renewed it. He had kept covenant with the children, even when rejecting the fathers. Thirty-eight years he had led them in the wilderness, and once more had gathered them together to hear them renew their vows of obedience. Which things remind us of the many bonds by which numbers of Christ’s people are bound to his covenant. By redemption, by dedication of parents, by personal choice of the Saviour, by public profession, by repeated visits to his table, by special vows. Orr. Blessings and Cursings, as Sanctions of the Law, to be Proclaimed on Gerizim and Ebal (verses 11–14). Having set up the Law and renewed the covenant in Canaan, Israel was to proclaim upon the land the blessing and the curse of the Law. For this purpose six tribes were to station themselves on Mount Gerizim, and six on Mount Ebal, the former to pronounce the blessing, the latter the curse. W. L. A.—Those rocky ridges lay in the province of Samaria, and the peaks referred to were near Shechem (Nablous), rising in steep precipices to the height of about eight hundred feet, and separated by a green, well-watered valley, of about five hundred yards wide. The people of Israel were here divided into two parts. On Mount Gerizim (now Jebel-et-Tur) were stationed the descendants of Rachel and Leah, the two principal wives of Jacob, and to them was assigned the most pleasant and honorable office of pronouncing the benedictions; while on the twin hill of Ebal (now Imad-el-Deen) were placed the posterity of the two secondary wives, Zilpah and Bilhah, with those of Reuben, who had lost the primogeniture, and Zebulun, son of Leah, youngest son; to them were committed the duty of pronouncing the maledictions. The ceremony might have taken place on the lower spurs of the mountains, where they approach more closely to each other. Jamieson. To use the historical form of expression, as the scene is described more fully here than on its actual performance under Joshua (8:30), the twelve tribes were divided between the two hills. On Gerizim stood Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin, to bless the people; on Ebal, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali, to utter the curses which are then fully recited. P. S.—Between the two stood “the Levites”—i.e., in this place the priests; since the tribe of Levi stands among the other tribes. Here, where the point at issue was not the division of the land, but the personal position of the tribes to the Lord, Levi is reckoned among the twelve, and Joseph stands as one tribe. Gerl. Curses Pronounced on Mount Ebal (verses 15–26). The curses to be pronounced were twelve in number, probably to correspond with the number of the tribes. The blessings are not here recorded; but when the injunction here given was fulfilled by Joshua, the blessing as well as the curse was pronounced (Josh. 8:34). . . . Each of the first eleven curses is directed against some particular sin already denounced in the Law. The twelfth curse is directed generally against all breaches of the Law, against those who fail or refuse to set up the whole Law and follow it as the rule of life and conduct. This shows that the sins specially denounced are selected by way of specimen, and also, perhaps, because they are such as could for the most part be easily concealed from judicial inspection. W. L. A. There is a larger place for the curses than for the blessing—for the Law in its form and substance was more prohibitive than injunctive, as its subjects were more prone to transgression than obedience. All the tribes that stood on Gerizim to bless were descended from children of Jacob's wives. The disgraced Reuben, Zebulun, and the sons of the concubines, were appointed to pronounce the curses. It is well to note the sins thus specially stigmatized: idolatry—filial impiety—rapacity—inhumanity, and more especially to the helpless—corrupt judgment—incest—bestiality—violence, and specially in secrecy or guile—murder, and specially for gain—and lastly, that which brings every son and daughter of Adam under the condemnation and the curse, want of conformity to the Law in any of its requirements—a conformity which one and all of us have so miserably fallen short of. T. C. The list is avowedly representative (verse 26), but it covers a large part of the Decalogue. The first table is fairly represented by the second commandment, and a curse is pronounced on the making and worshipping of images (verse 15). The precepts of the second table are involved in the other verses—the fifth commandment in the curse on filial disrespect (verse 16); the sixth in the curse on murder (verse 24); the seventh in the curses on the grosser forms of uncleanness (verses 20-23); the eighth in the curse on removing the landmark (verse 17); the ninth in the curse on slaying another for reward, which may include perjury (verse 25); while verses 18, 19 may be viewed as forbidding breaches of the law of love generally. Orr. 16. What hath been observed concerning the laws of Solon and of Romulus, the first an Athenian, the other a Roman lawgiver, is also remarkable in the laws of Moses—namely, that no mention is made of murderers of fathers or mothers; as if it were impossible that any one could do so execrable a deed. But he who struck, or he who cursed his father or mother, was to be treated as he who cursed God and blasphemed his holy name; he was to be put to death. Afterward, as iniquity abounded in the world, murderers of fathers and mother, as Paul observes, were no uncommon criminals, and severe laws were enacted by the Romans and by other nations against such vile malefactors. 18. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander. Among several heinous crimes, such as idolatry, contempt of parents, murder, rapine, and the like, is mentioned this of "causing the blind to go out of their way:" a wickedness of a singular nature, and which one would not expect to find in this list of vicious actions. It is a crime which is seldom committed; there are few opportunities for it; there is little temptation to it; it is doing mischief for mischief's sake, an enormity to which few can easily bring themselves. Blindness in all languages is put for error and ignorance; and in the style of the Scriptures, ways and paths, and walking, running, going, wandering astray, stumbling, falling, mean the actions and the behavior of men. These obvious observations will lead us to the moral, mystical, spiritual, and enlarged sense of the Law or communication: and it is this, Cursed is he who imposeth upon the simple, the credulous, the unwary, the ignorant, and the helpless; and either hurts, or defrauds, or deceives, or seduces, or misinforms, or misleads, or perverts, or corrupts, or spoils them. And if cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of his way, then by the rule of contraries, blessed is he who can say with Job, "I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame." Jortia. 26. Cursed be he that confirmeth not. The severe spirit which pervades the Law, as shown in the numerous exactions and declaratory curses detailed in this book, was consistently contrived to point out the rigorous character of the Divine justice, which, in a covenant of stipulated observances, necessarily required punctilious and universal obedience. For though the Divine mercy might compassionate the weakness of human nature, and therefore it prescribed atonements not difficult to be paid; yet God could not, in conformity with his relation to the Israelites, overlook even involuntary deficiencies, or casual defilements. Gray.—Such crimes are mentioned as might escape the eyes even of a watchful judicature, in order to declare that God at all events will find out such sinners, and to impress on the hypocrite a horror of the works of darkness. In the last curse all the rest are included. Geri. Lessons from the past alternate throughout with solemn admonitions for the future. The Bible furnishes few examples of warnings which in melting pathos or awful power equal those of this book. It does not surprise us that the rabbins of a later day named it the "Book of Admonitions." The possibility and fear, rising in some places to prophetic conviction, that the Israel of Red Sea deliverances and of Sinai would yet one day lapse from its high privilege, and lose sight for a time of its predestined goal, dominate like a trumpet-tone beginning, mid- dle, and end of this series of discourses. It is for this reason, among others, that the fourteen chapters of legislation (12-26), whose faithful observance was meant to prevent the day of ca- lamity, are flanked by Ebal and Gerizim. That imposing ceremonial should be forever after- ward a solemn and restraining memory. E. C. B. BLESSINGS PROMISED TO OBEDIENCE: 1. THOSE PRONOUNCED AT THE GIVING OF THE LAW ON SINAI. 2. THOSE UTTERED ON THE PLAINS OF MOAB, THIRTY-NINE YEARS LATER. Moses here resumes and amplifies the threats already set forth in the earlier records of the Law. The blessings are declared in fourteen verses; the curses require nearly four times as many. Thus here again the curse is the more conspicuous feature in the Law. The language rises in this chapter to the sublimest strains, especially in the latter part of it; and the prophecies respecting the dispersion and degradation of the Jewish nation in its later days are among the most remarkable in Scripture. They are plain, precise, and circumstantial; and the fulfilment of them has been literal, complete, and undeniable. Espin. 15,20. God seeks not occasion against us, nor is he apt to quarrel with us. That which is here mentioned as bringing the curse is (1) despising God; refusing to hearken to his voice (verse 15), which speaks the highest contempt imaginable, as if what he said were not worth the heeding or we were not under any obligation to him. (2) Disobeying him; not doing his commandments or not observing to do them. None fall under his curse but those that rebel against his command. (3) Deserting him. "It is because of the wickedness of thy doings, not only whereby thou hast slighted me, but whereby thou hast forsaken me" (verse 20). God never casts us off till we first cast him off. It intimates that their idolatry, by which they forsook the true God for false gods, would be their destroying sin, more than any other. H.—These threatenings are against evil-doers, and while as terrible as they are just they have no taint of bitterness. They are never vindictive. They proceed from a heart of infinite pity—the heart of "the Almighty Father." Dr. J. P. Thompson. 16-19. As the blessing was set forth in six announcements (verses 3-6), the curse is proclaimed in form and number corresponding. The curse thus appears as the exact counterpart of the blessing. The different forms in which the threatened curse should break forth are then detailed (verses 20-68). W. L. A. The equity of these curses. (1) Disobedience under such circumstances of privilege was eminently base and blameworthy. Disloyalty had no excuse. To refuse to hearken was sheer obstinacy which could plead no extenuation. (2) It was perjury. They had sworn to be loyal subjects. They had acknowledged the just terms of the covenant, and had entered Canaan on the terms of pledged obedience. (3) It was rebellion against their accepted King. If such flagrant rebellion escaped with impunity, God would be dishonored in the eyes of the universe. (4) The curses were their own choice. They knew clearly what the fruits of disobedience were. They had seen the fruits in others' fate—in the Egyptians, in their brethren, in the Canaanites. If they should choose other gods they should be led into captivity, and there they should "serve other gods, wood and stone." (5) The curses were the natural evolution of their crimes. Sin is the seed of which penalty is the fruit. If they forsook God, God would forsake them. What could be more equitable? Men say, "Depart from me; I desire not the knowledge of thy ways." God says, "Depart from me; I never knew you." D. D. 25,26. Utter defeat in battle (the opposite of the blessing promised, verse 7) and dispersion among the nations are threatened, with the utmost indignity to those who were slain, in their bodies being left unburied to be devoured by birds of prey and wild beasts (cf. 1 Kings 14:11). Shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth; literally, shalt be a tossing to and fro to all the kingdoms, etc.; "a ball for all the kingdoms to play with." 28,29. Besides bodily ailments, mental diseases should come upon them—insanity, incapacity, confusion of mind, so that even at mid-day they should grope as a blind man gropes—i.e., under the most favorable circumstances they should be unable to find the right path, to hit on the right and safe course. It is of mental blindness that the word is here used. W. L. A.—They should be infatuated in all their counsels, so as not to discern their own interest, nor bring anything to pass for the public good. The Lord shall suite thee with madness and blindness. Note, God's judgments can reach the minds of men, to fill them with darkness and horror, as well as their bodies and estates; and those are the sorest of all judgments which make men a terror to themselves, and their own destroyers. H. 30-34. The spoliation of them should be utter. All most dear and precious to them should be the prey of their enemies. Wife, house, vineyard, herd, and flock should be ruthlessly taken from them; sons and daughters should be carried into captivity, and their eyes should look for them in vain, with constant and wasting longing. W. L. A. 32-48. Lev. 26:23-39. These passages are remarkably descriptive of the captivities of the ten tribes carried away by the Assyrians, and transplanted into the remotest parts of the empire, and of the two remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin, by the Babylonians. Their true meaning is determined by the Prophet Jeremiah in the following summary: "Lo, I bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. Their quiver is an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. And they shall eat up thine harvest." The remoteness of the Babylonians is noticed (Is. 5:26), and the antiquity of "the land of Nimrod" (Mic. 5:6). The Syriac language was not understood by the Jews (2 Kings 18 : 26), and their arms were chiefly bows and arrows (Jer. 6 : 23). Hales. 33. Thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway.** They should not be quite rooted out and destroyed, as the Amalekites and Canaanites were, of whom no footsteps now remain; but be scattered and tossed about through other nations, remaining still as a testimony to the truth of God's revealed religion; and there only oppressed, crushed, and enslaved. Pyle. 36. The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king.** This was fulfilled literally, when Jehoiachin was carried captive to Babylon (2 Kings 24 : 15), and afterward Zedekiah (25 : 7; Jer. 39 : 7; 52 : 11). Bp. Patrick.—It is a circumstance which must strike every unprejudiced person, that this prophetic threat was delivered at a time when the Jews had not a king, nor were yet constituted as a nation. Bryant. 37. The Hebrew people have survived their metropolis, their kingdom, and their code; and a terrible interval of more than fifteen centuries of merciless persecutions, of heroic struggles, of blasting calumnies, of martyrdoms, and of expulsions, constitute the modern history of the Hebrews. Exiles even in their birthplace; struck out of the number of nations, yet still a nation; the chosen of God, and the persecuted of man; looked on as sacred, and held as contemptible. Stigmatized or proscribed, their very name has entailed on them a proverbial odium, and they are still enduring the anathema of their immortal legislator; "Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word among all the peoples whither the Lord shall lead thee away." D'Israeli. 41. Thou shalt beget sons.** The calamity here threatened was threatened also in many places of the prophets, and fulfilled in several invasions of their neighbors: for the Syrians, no doubt, carried captive more than one "little maid," like her who waited on Naaman's wife (2 Kings 5 : 2), and in other inroads upon them, till the captivity of the whole land; we may be confident that this was a frequent calamity (2 Kings 14 : 26; 15 : 37). Bp. Patrick. 49,50. The description here given of the enemy to whom Israel was to be subjected, applies more or less closely to all the nations whom God raised up from time to time, to invade Israel and chastise the people for their rebellion—the Chaldeans (cf. Jer. 48 : 40; 49 : 22; Ezek. 17 : 5-7; Hab. 1 : 6), the Assyrians (cf. Is. 5 : 26; 38 : 11), the Medes (Is. 13 : 17, 18); but there are features in the description which apapply especially to the Romans; and the horrors delineated in the latter part of the section (verses 52-57) carry one's thoughts immediately to the terrible scenes which transpired during the wars of Vespasian and Titus with the Jews as narrated by Josephus. W. L. A. The minute and circumstantial prophecy contained from the forty-ninth to the sixty-eighth verse was exactly fulfilled in all its branches by the Roman captivity, and is still fulfilling at this very day. Its accomplishment indeed is for "a sign" of their rebellion against God, and for "a wonder" of their preservation amid all those dreadful calamities which they have suffered for so many hundred years. Hales.—If we consider what providential reasons may be assigned for the present condition of the Jews, we shall find that their numbers, dispersion, and adherence to their religion have furnished every age and every nation of the world with the strongest arguments for the Christian faith; not only as these very particulars are foretold of them, but as they themselves are the depositories of these and all the other prophecies, which tend to their own confusion. Their number furnishes us with a sufficient cloud of witnesses that attest the truth of the Old Testament. Their dispersion spreads these witnesses through all parts of the world. The adherence to their religion makes their testimony unquestionable. Addison. 49,50. A nation from far—namely, the Romans, as swift as the eagle, hastening to the prey; our Saviour makes use of this similitude, in foretelling this destruction, that where the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together (Matt. 24 : 28). And Bishop Patrick observes (to make the accomplishment the more remarkable) that the ensign of the Roman armies was an eagle. This nation is said to be of a fierce countenance, an indication of a fierce nature, stern and severe, that would not pity the weakness and infirmity either of little children or of old people. H.—The Romans are here described with the most characteristic precision, above eight hundred years before their existence as a nation. First, by their country; "far" to the westward of Palestine; from "the end of the earth," or shores of the Atlantic Ocean; and it is remarkable that the armies of Titus and Adrian were principally composed of Gauls, Britons, and Spaniards. (Vespasian and Adrian, the two great conquerors and destroyers of the Jews, both came from commanding here in Britain. Bp. Newton.) (2) By the rapidity of their marches, "swift as the eagle flibeth;" and their ensigns too were eagles, expressive thereof. (3) By their language, Latin, which was not understood by the Jews, though Greek was, from the time of Alexander's conquests in Asia. (4) By their "fierce countenance," for which the Romans were distinguished from the early periods of their republic. And (5) By their ferocity, or merciless disposition in war. Of fierce countenance. How singularly applicable this characteristic was of the Romans, may appear from the following instance out of many. In a war which broke out between the Romans and Samnites (year of Rome 412), the latter attributed their defeat after a long and obstinate engagement to the fierce looks of the Romans. They said that "the eyes of the Romans seemed to be on fire, their countenances were wild, and their looks furious; and that this excited more terror in them than anything else." 51. Josephus, whose "Jewish war" is the best commentary on this prophecy, relates the devastation of the country by the Romans, that "in their rage they ceased not day nor night from ravaging the lands, plundering the goods, slaying all that were of military age, and taking the weaker captives." He relates the sieges of the principal towns taken by the Romans, Jotapata, Gadara, Joppa, Tiberias, Tariches, and Gadala; at which last town in particular, after a long and obstinate defence, "above five thousand persons precipitated themselves from the walls into a deep valley beneath; and the Romans spared not even the infants, but slung them in numbers from the citadel." Hales. —When Vespasian entered Gadara, Josephus says, that "he slew all, man by man, the Romans showing mercy to no age." Such had been the Chaldeans, as the sacred history relates expressly (2 Ch. 36:17). 52. And he shall besiege thee. The Romans demolished several fortified places before they besieged and destroyed Jerusalem. And the Jews may very well be said to have "trusted in their high and fenced walls," for they seldom ventured a battle in the open field. Jerusalem was a very strong place, and wonderfully fortified both by nature and by art, according to the description of Tacitus, as well as of Josephus. Bp. Newton. For a minute recital of the fulfilment of these remarkable predictions, read pages 647-650 of New Testament, Vol. I. B. 57. Lev. 26:29. This prediction was fulfilled about six hundred years after, when Samaria was besieged by the King of Syria (2 Kings 6:28, 29). It was fulfilled again about nine hundred years after in the siege of Jerusalem before the Babylonish captivity (Jer. 4:10: Bar. 2:1). Again it was fulfilled about fifteen hundred years after in the last siege of Jerusalem by Titus. At so many different times and distant periods hath this prophecy been fulfilled: and one would have thought that such distress and horror had almost transcended imagination, and much less that any person could certainly have foreseen and foretold it. Bp. Newton. 58-68. Even these fearful calamities would not be the consummation of their punishment. If they should be obstinate in their rebellion; if they would not observe to do all that the Law delivered by Moses enjoined on them; if they ceased to reverence and obey Jehovah, their God—then should come upon them the curse in full measure, and long-continued chastisement should show how grievous had been their sin. 58. This book. Not the Book of Deuteronomy, which was not then written, but the Book of the Law, the Torah, delivered by Moses to Israel from God; and of which he had been, in his addresses to the people, recapitulating some of the principal points (cf. verses 60, 61). W. L. A. If the fulfilment of these predictions teaches anything, it is that God will not shrink from the punishment of sin. We shudder as we read the details of these curses—"plagues wonderful, . . . great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance" (verse 59), and ask ourselves, Can God really tolerate the sight of, not to say inflict, such incredible sufferings? Yet we find that not one of these curses failed of its accomplishment. So solemn a fact bids the sinner pause and ponder his chance of escaping in the great "day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Orr. 62. And ye shall be left few in number. Josephus reckons that eleven hundred thousand souls perished during the siege of Jerusalem by the sword, pestilence, or famine, beside ninety-seven thousand whom they took captives. The greater part of these were of the same nation, but not of the same country. For they had assembled from all parts to celebrate the feast of the passover, and were suddenly surrounded by the Romans; and the whole of this vast multitude, composing the whole nation, shut up as it were in an enclosure by destiny. In the ensuing rebellion, excited by the impostor Barchocab, signifying "son of the star," or Christ, so denominated in Balaam's prophecies, Julius Severus, the general of Adrian, according to Dio, destroyed five hundred and eighty thousand Jews in the public combats, beside an innumerable multitude which perished by famine, misery, and fire: so that very few of them escaped this war; in which were plundered and burned fifty fortified castles and nine hundred and eighty-five towns, flourishing and populous; and so general was the massacre of the inhabitants, that all Judea was in some measure left desolate, and converted into a desert. Hales. 63. That is a terrible word, As the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, so he will rejoice over you to destroy you. Behold here, the goodness and severity of God: mercy here shines bright in the pleasure God takes in doing good, yet justice here appears no less illustrious in the pleasure he takes in destroying the impenitent; not as it is the making of his creatures miserable, but as it is the asserting of his own honor and the securing of the ends of his government. See what a malignant mischievous thing sin is, which makes it necessary for the God of infinite goodness to rejoice in the destruction of his own creatures, even those that had been favorites. H. Ye shall be plucked from off the land. They were so when the ten tribes were carried captive into Assyria; and when the two other tribes were carried captive to Babylon. They were so again when "the Romans took away their place and nation." Afterward, when the Emperor Adrian had subdued the rebellious Jews, he published an edict forbidding them upon pain of death to set foot in Jerusalem or even to approach the country round about it. From that time to this their country hath been in the possession of foreign masters, few of the Jews dwelling in it and those only of a low servile condition. In the twelfth century Jerusalem was almost entirely abandoned by the Jews, not above two hundred living there who were for the most part dyers of wool. The rest of the holy land was still more depopulated. Sandys says, "It is for the most part now inhabited by Moors and Arabians; those possessing the valleys, and these the mountains. Turks there be few: but many Greeks with other Christians of all sects and nations, such as impute to the place an adherent holiness. Here be also some Jews: yet inherit they no part of the land, but in their own country do live as aliens." Bp. Newton. 64. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people. This gives the last stroke to the picture. I will scatter you among the nations (Lev. 26:33). While their land lies waste and their cities in ruins, they themselves are dispersed among the nations and the sword unsheathed against them. More than once has this description been realized in the history of this people. They were carried away into captivity in part by Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 15:29), by Shalmaneser (2 Kings 18:29), and by Nebuchadnezzar on three several occasions. Returning after seventy years of captivity they remained in their own country with various fortune until the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, which terminated in the raising of the walls and the burning of the temple. For eighteen centuries from that event they have been without a country, and are at this day scattered among the nations. The prophetic picture, melancholy though it is, has been fully borne out by the reality. M.—Nehemiah confesseth that these words were fulfilled in the Babylonish captivity (1:8, 9), but they have more amply been fulfilled since the great dispersion of the Jews by the Romans. What people indeed have been scattered so far and wide as they? and where is the nation which is a stranger to them or to which they are strangers? They swarm in many parts of the East, are spread through most of the countries of Europe and Africa, and there are several families of them in the West Indies. They circulate through all parts where trade and money circulate; and are, as I may say, the brokers of the world. Bp. Newton. 65-67. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease. Since their expulsion from their native territory, the Jews have wandered over every portion of the globe, without national possessions, an acknowledged constitution, or independent laws. Though generally submissive to the laws and strangers to political intrigue, they have frequently been exposed to persecution and plunder, even with the connivance of governments, which in all other instances have guarded as sacred the property of individuals. Though abundantly possessed of riches, which usually command the respect of mankind and ennoble even ignorance and folly, they have been generally treated with contempt by the powerful, and sometimes even followed with insult by the populace. They have been driven from city to city, from country to country. Richards. 67. Would God it were ever! For each of us, if we do fail of the grace of God, there is reserved a misery of which indeed the words of the text are no more than a feeble picture. There is a state in which they who are condemned to it shall forever say in the morning, Would God it were even! and at even, Would God it were morning! for the fear of their heart wherewith they shall fear, and the sight of their eyes which they shall see. Arnold. 68. Bring thee into Egypt.** Of the captives taken at the siege of Jerusalem, above seventeen years of age, some were sent to Egypt in chains to work in the mines, the greater part were distributed through the provinces to be destroyed in the theatres by the sword and by wild beasts: the rest under seventeen were sold for slaves; and that for a trifling sum, on account of the numbers to be sold and the scarcity of buyers. So that at length the prophecy of Moses was fulfilled, "and no man shall buy." Hales.—It is related both by Aristeas and Josephus, that in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus there were vast numbers of Hebrew slaves in Egypt, and that the king himself bought above one hundred thousand of them from their masters and set them free. Egypt, indeed, was the great slave-mart of ancient times; and several of the conquerors and oppressors of the Jews sent at least a portion of their captives thither to be sold. Titus had ninety thousand captives after Jerusalem was taken. Those above seventeen years of age were sent to different parts of the Roman Empire to labor on the public works, besides great numbers who perished in compulsory combats with wild beasts. Those under seventeen were doomed to be sold for slaves; but in such deep contempt and detestation was the nation held, that few were willing to buy them; and the Jews who remained at large were too few and poor to be able to redeem their brethren. The market was also glutted with their numbers, so that they were sold at a mere nominal price—sometimes thirty for a small piece of money. Those who remained unpurchased were sent into confinement, where they perished by hundreds and by thousands together, from neglect and hunger. Egypt received a large proportion of these slaves, who were probably sent thither in ships, as the Romans had a fleet in the Mediterranean, and this was a much easier and safer way of transporting them than by land across the desert. The same things precisely took place on the final desolation of Israel by Hadrian, who may be said to have consummated their doom by decreeing, with the concurrence of the Roman Senate, that no Jew should ever, on pain of death, enter the land of his fathers. Kit. The dispersion of the Jews into all countries from the rising to the setting sun, and "the very long continuance of their plagues" or sufferings in this captivity, intimated in the reperepetition (verse 59), and now subsisting upward of seventeen hundred years, during which they have still been preserved a distinct people, though everywhere despised and persecuted, exhibits a standing miracle and fulfilment of prophecy the most extraordinary and convincing. Dr. Hales. De. 29 1 THESE are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. 2. And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; the great temptations which thine eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders: 4 but the LORD hath not given you an heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God. And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them: and we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of the Manassites. 9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do. 10 Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in the midst of thy camps, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: that thou shouldst enter into the covenant of the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day: that he may establish thee this day unto himself for a people, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he spake unto thee, and as he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; but with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day: (for ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the midst of the nations through which ye passed; and ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them;) lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of mine heart, to destroy the moist with the dry: the LORD will not pardon him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven. And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the law. And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you, and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, (when they see 23 the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses wherewith the LORD hath made it sick; and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and a burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sódom and Gomorrah, Admah and 24 Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath,) even all the nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great 25 anger? Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their 26 fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt; and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he 27 had not given unto them: therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to 28 bring upon it all the curse that is written in this book: and the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as at this day. The threefold division of the addresses of Moses has been thus far recognized in these pages, because generally accepted. It would seem, however, from the introductory words of this twenty-ninth chapter, that the address (including ch. 30) accompanying this final renewal of the covenant "in the land of Moab" was a fourth and entirely distinct address, summarizing and completing the series of reminders and pleadings, so as to give intenser emphasis and force to the covenanting act. B. The twenty-ninth and thirtieth chapters contain the address of Moses to the people on the solemn renewal of the covenant. The people were now on the borders of the promised land, ready to enter in and take possession of that which God on his side had stipulated. It was fitting therefore that in doing so they should once more on their side recognize the obligations under which they were laid. The renewal of the covenant in the land of Moab did not consist in any revision or alteration of stipulations, nor in a repetition of the sacrifices and the blood sprinkling with which the compact was ratified at Sinai. These acts remained still valid, and all that was necessary was a declaration on the part of God that his promises and purposes toward them still continued in force; and on the part of the people a new and solemn profession of their duties, and a vow to discharge them. This it was the more incumbent on them to make, and on Moses to require, because thus far, as Moses had reminded them, they had repeatedly broken their engagements to God. After making appeal to God's past mercies (verses 1-9), Moses summons the people to pledge themselves anew to the covenant (verses 10-15), denouncing once more rejection of them by God in case of their apostasy (verses 16-28); but promising restoration upon their repentance (30:1-10). Finally he solemnly sets before them the blessing and the curse, and adjures them to seek the blessing. Espin.—In these two chapters Moses seems to gather up all the moral forces of the nation's history into one fervent appeal to induce obedience and to press the people to most earnest consecration to the Lord their God. The great mercies of God upon them and their fathers on the one hand coupled with largest promises of good hereafter; on the other hand, the fearful curses impending over disobedience, are spread out to their view: life on the one hand, death on the other, awaiting their choice, pending upon their decision, sure to come according to their free election of the one course or the other. How are these moral forces made to culminate and press upon the conscience of the whole people! H. C. The covenant which the Lord had made with Israel in Horeb is now solemnly renewed or confirmed; and thereby the new generation, about to enter Canaan, placed in a similar position with the old, to whom that duty had first been committed. But as the words of Moses refer entirely to the covenant already made, there is no need of any further sacrifices, or of any renewal of promises on the part of the people, but only a solemn confirmation of the Lord's blessing on the obedient, and his curse on the disobedient. Gerl.—God invites them to a renewal of the sacred covenant. Another chance was given them for spiritual reformation. Here was the commencement of a new epoch. Again, as in Horeb, God bids for man's allegiance. He renews his pledge to be in Canaan what he had been in the desert—their special Friend, their God. In this compact all the resources of God were secured to Israel. His power, his glory, his life, his home, were conveyed to them. All was to be theirs; but on one condition—and that condition was a necessity—that they should be loyal and true to him. What a splendid opportunity was there for a new beginning—for a fresh departure! D. D. 1. Beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. This was not a new covenant in addition to that made at Sinai, but simply a renewal and reaffirmation of that covenant. At Sinai the covenant was, properly speaking, made; sacrifices were then offered, and the people were sprinkled with the sacrificial blood, whereby the covenant was ratified (Ex. 24; cf. Ps. 50: 5); but on the occasion here referred to no sacrifices were offered, for this was merely the recognition of the covenant formerly made as still subsisting. 2-9. Moses addresses the nation as such, and reminds them of their dulness to apprehend the manifestations of God's grace which had been so abundantly afforded in their past history, in order that he may arouse them to a better state of mind, and stimulate them to hearken to the voice of God in the future. W. L. A. 10-15. Here we have what Lowman calls the original contract of the Hebrew government. Two principles constitute the sum of it—viz.: (1) The maintenance of the worship of one God, in opposition to the prevailing polytheism of the times; and (2) as conducive to this main end, the separation of the Israelites from other nations, so as to prevent the formation of dangerous and corrupting alliances. The general sense of the transaction is plainly to this effect: If the Hebrews would voluntarily receive Jehovah for their king and would honor and worship him as the one true God, in opposition to all idolatry, then, though God as sovereign of the world rules over all the nations of the earth, he would govern the Hebrew nation by laws of his own framing, and would bless it with a more particular and immediate protection. E. C. W. The covenant was a national engagement, and as such included not only the adults and existing generation, but the little ones, the strangers resident in Israel, the lowest menial servants—that is, all the elements of which the nation was composed, as well as their posterity in coming generations. 12. "That thou shouldest enter into covenant." The expression in the Hebrew is a strong one, indicating not a mere formal engagement, but a going thoroughly into the covenant. W. L. A. 13. They should be appointed, raised up, established, for a people to him, to observe and obey him, to be devoted to him and dependent on him, and that he should be to them a God, according to the tenor of the covenant made with their fathers, to make them holy, high, and happy. Their fathers are here named, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as examples of piety, which those were to set themselves to imitate who exexpected any benefit from the covenant made with them. A due consideration of the relation we stand in to God as our God, and the obligation we lie under as a people to him, is enough to bring us to all the duties and all the comforts of the covenant. H. 15. A citizen of an empire cannot demean himself as he please. He is bound to consider the well-being of the body politic. Hence Moses affirmed that the covenant made with the elders and officers present was a covenant also made with those not present. Whoever elected to share in the security and triumphs of the nation was bound to share in its obligations. We cannot belong to society and claim exemption from its laws. The individual is bound by the decisions of the nation. D. D. # Renewed Warning of Punishment in Case of Apostasy (verses 16-28). Verses 16 and 17 are not a parenthesis. There should be a full stop at the end of verse 15. Verse 18 is connected with verse 17. W. L. A.—The sense of the whole passage from verse 16 onward to verse 20 may be exhibited thus: "Ye have seen the abominations of idolatry among the heathen. Do you therefore look diligently that there be no secret idolater among you; a root of bitterness to all about him. Let there be no one, who when he hears the curses of the Law against this sin, flatters himself, saying within himself, 'All will be well, for I walk unmolested in my own self chosen path;' and thus acting, not only takes his own fill of sin, but destroys likewise every tempted brother within his reach; for the LORD will not spare him," etc. Espin. How dire were the perversities and impenitence of the Israelites, and this in the face of all the mercies which they had experienced and all the miracles which had passed before them. On the strength of these does Moses renew his solemn charge on the people for their obedience, and his threatenings against them should they transgress the covenant of their God—a covenant not confined to those who heard him but extending to posterity, and so to those who were not with him on that day. Their obstinate inclination to the idolatries of the heathen was the root of bitterness, a poison both of deceit and destruction, which first beguiled and led away the nation and then ruined them. Against this he holds out both his menaces and his warnings. T. C. 18. The sinner is here described as one whose heart turns away from his God; there the mischief begins, in the evil heart of unbelief, which inclines men to depart from the living God. H. —19. The transgressor is intensely selfish. He plots for himself, and thinks only of his comfort. “I shall have peace.” The transgressor is essentially blind. He imagines that although all others may be detected, he shall escape. He sees no immediate danger. He vainly fancies that his evil course is sagacious, and will bring prompt returns of advantage. He leaves God out of the calculation. He lays his plans and carries them as if there were no God. D. D.—He blesses himself in his heart, and says, “I will have peace,” at the very time that God’s curses are being read out to him. Yet his case is not a solitary one. He does no more than men do every day in the teeth of the threatenings of the Bible. Want of consideration and the force of self-will account for this self-deceit. Orr.—There are many who are under the curse of God, and yet bless themselves; but it will soon be found that in blessing themselves, they do but deceive themselves. Those are ripe for ruin, and there is little hope of their repentance, who have made themselves believe that they shall have peace though they go on in a sinful way. 20,21. God’s just severity is here denounced against such a sinner for his impious affront, in saying he should have peace though he went on, so giving the lie to eternal truth. There is scarcely a threatening in all the book of God that sounds more dreadful than this, The Lord shall not pardon him. The days of his reprieve which he abuses will be shortened, and no mercy remembered in the midst of judgment. The anger of the Lord, and his jealousy, which is the fiercest anger, shall smoke against him, like the smoke of a furnace. The curses written shall lie upon him, not only light upon him to terrify him, but abide upon him to sink him to the lowest hell (John 3:36). His name shall be blotted out—that is, he himself shall be cut off, and his memory shall perish with him. He shall be separated unto evil, he shall be cut off from all happiness and all hope of it, and marked out for misery without remedy. And all this according to the curses of the covenant, which are the most fearful curses, being the just revenges of abused grace. H. How profound is the subtlety of the sinful heart; how perfect is that terrible science of self-deceit by which, from the dawn of reason to the hour of death, we learn to reconcile our worse and our better natures! Surely the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” might well be to us a forbidden tree; for the knowledge of sin has only driven us upon the art of excusing it—the wretched art of supplying apologies for predetermined crime—the fatal power of preserving ourselves in an unbroken dream of imaginary safety from that wrath of God which yet we cannot deny to be expressly “revealed against all ungodliness”—of investing a perilous folly with the air of innocent playfulness—of glossing over darker deeds with the poor pretences of passion and hastiness. W. A. B. 23. The description here is taken from the country around the Dead Sea, to which there is an express allusion in the close of the verse (cf. Gen. 19:23, etc.). As this country, which before had been as the garden of the Lord, became, when the wrath of God was poured upon it, utterly desolate and waste; so should it be with the land of Israel when the plagues and sicknesses threatened were laid on it by the Lord. 24. What meaneth the heat of this great anger? The reply to this question comes in what follows (verses 25-28). It is evident from this that Moses contemplates, and in fact here predicts, a defection, not of individuals or families merely, but of the nation as a whole from the Lord, and the punishment which came in consequence upon the nation. The words from “when they see” (verse 22) to “wrath” (verse 23) are a parenthesis, in which a reason for the main thought is given in a circumstantial clause; and the “say” of verse 22 is resumed by the “say” of verse 24. W. L. A. 25-28. HOW MANIFESTLY, IN THE DESOLATION OF THE HOLY LAND, IS SEEN THE EFFECT OF THE WRATH OF GOD! To this even Volney bears witness. He asks, “From whence proceed such melancholy revolutions? For what cause is the fortune of these countries so strikingly changed? Why are so many cities destroyed? Why is not that ancient population reproduced and perpetuated? A mysterious God exercises his incomprehensible judgments. He has doubtless pronounced a secret curse against the land. He has struck with a curse the present race of men in revenge of past generations.” It is of no use for men to declaim against the possibility of miracles, when there is the standing miracle before our eye, of some superhuman knowledge having forecast three thousand years ago precisely the line along which Hebrew history would move, down till the present day. And as long as our present historical records stand, so long will there remain the confirmation of the precision with which Israel’s Lawgiver, speaking in the name of Jehovah, laid down beforehand the lines along which the Jewish nation should move for thousands of years. When we put together the land and the Book, the work and the Word, and see the correspondence between them, we cannot but say, "This is the finger of God." C. C. GREAT TRUTHS PERTAINING TO THE DIVINE REVELATION: THINGS UNREVEALED BELONG TO GOD, THINGS REVEALED TO MAN. THE NEARNESS, CLEARNESS, AND SUFFICIENCY OF REVELATION. THE DIVINE WORD TO BE RECEIVED, PONDERED, AND OBEYED BY THE HEART. BLESSED RESULTS OF THOUGHTFUL, HEARTFELT RECEPTION AND OBEDIENCE. De. 29 29 THE secret things belong unto the LORD our God : but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. 30 11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it ? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it ? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. 32 46 And he said unto them, Set your heart unto all the words which I testify unto you this day ; which ye shall command your children to observe to do all the words of this law. For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life ; and through this thing ye shall prolong your days upon the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. As an appropriate and emphatic application of all the preceding addresses of Moses, these three passages are taken from among his very last words to Israel. They present certain fundamental and vital truths pertaining to the revealed Word of God. B. In every realm of thought and fact, and on every side, we are surrounded by things unrevealed. Strange, inscrutable mysteries pervade the spiritual and material universe. There are profound insoluble problems in the being and character of God, and in all the modes and processes and motives of his diverse working. The original and essence of all created being, the principle of physical life and transmutation, the vicissitudes of human interests and events, the reasons of the Divine conduct in His specific dealings throughout the wide realms of Providence and grace, are all alike inscrutable. But it is also a truth that the character of God and his relations to the universe require the existence of mysteries. They are in consonance with his character and essential to his exaltation and government, since they imply and reveal superior power and wisdom. Without them we could not have the evidence of his supremacy and right to rule. Without them, therefore, He could not reasonably demand our worship, obedience, and confidence. For these reasons mysteries exist. Their necessity is founded in the nature and relations of God and man. They are required to exalt His character, to reveal His perfections, to sustain his throne, to justify and exact our worship and submission to his will, to attract and give scope to our faith, and hold us upon the path of holy obedience and endeavor. By propriety and by right, therefore, "secret things belong unto the LORD our God !" B. God cannot, on account of his incomparable greatness and excellence, bring his plans and operations within the comprehension of his creatures. The finite cannot take in the infinite. We only know in part. But we know. To doubt the possibility of knowing God would lead us straight to universal scepticism. Agnosticism has no logical halting-ground on this side of universal doubt. Hence we venture not beyond the assigned limits of the knowable. We take all that God gives and use it reverentially. At the same time, we recognize a world beyond our ken, of essence and of purpose and of perception, which is God's alone. Edgar. The existence of unsolved difficulties acts as a moral test, and aids the development of faith—faith, viz., as a practical principle, believing and trusting in God on the strength of what is revealed, difficulties notwithstanding (John 20 : 29). This gives the key to our duty, in presence of these difficulties. We do not forget : (1) That things once kept secret are now revealed (Col. 1 : 26). (2) That in the course of ages God is ever making his counsels clearer. (3) That it is the privilege and duty of the Church to be always making progress in the knowledge of God's will, as far as he has chosen to reveal it. Orr. The class of "secret things" is in God's keeping. Such confidence have we in the benignity of the Most High, that we anticipate further revelations, yea, an unending series of disclosures; but the time and method of these gradual unveilings God has wisely reserved unto himself. One thing inspires a hope of increased knowledge : we have a Divine promise that what we know not now we shall know hereafter. Compared with the unknown, the known is a speck, an atom, an alphabet only. The universe of knowledge is still beyond us, enticing our inquiry. D. D. Difficulties of Scripture and theology all arise from our ignorance, and our inability to fathom the mysteries of the Divine nature. We ought to humble our minds before the general consideration, that Divine reasons of state are beyond our ken; that some of God's attributes may demand a course of government beyond all our expectation; that his wisdom is infallible as his love is immense; and that whatever he ordains or allows is agreeable to the concord of those perfections which we revere and worship J. W. A. I believe in God and adore him, without attempting to comprehend him. I see him present and acting not only in the permanent government of the universe and in the innermost life of men's souls, but in the history of human societies, especially in the Old and New Testaments—monuments of the Divine revelation and action by the mediation and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of the human races. I bow before the mysteries of the Bible and the Gospel, and I hold aloof from scientific discussion and solutions by which men have attempted to explain them. Guizot.—As there is a foolish wisdom, so there is a wise ignorance in not prying into God's ark—not inquiring into things not revealed. I would fain know all that I need, and all that I may : I leave God's secrets to himself. It is happy for me that God makes me of his court, though not of his council. Bp. H. A revelation having nothing to reveal beyond the scope of man's knowledge and science, would cease to be a Divine revelation. Its mysteries are witnesses of its divinity, and I should cease to believe in revelation were the mysteries not there. They have, as in the great book of nature, a clear and a dark page. Frederick III.—He laboreth in vain who shall endeavor to draw down heavenly mysteries to human reason; it rather becomes us to bring our reason to the adorable throne of Divine truth. Bacon. In the concerns of human life there is a path that is secret, and a path that is revealed. Life may be considered either as a series of events and circumstances ordained and managed by infinite wisdom, or as a course of actions left to the determination of human choice. Considered in the first point of view there is nothing more obscure, nothing more hidden from our knowledge, than human life; but in the other, as a set of actions and a course of behavior, there is nothing more plain, for we have rules and motives that on every occasion ought to influence us. The matter of life is obscure; but the morality of life is plain and intelligible. Nothing is more profound than that darkness which covers every step of our path. We know not what a day will bring forth, nor the consequences of our actions; for it is said, "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not which shall prosper, this or that." Providence is showing us that there is an unseen hand that changes the scene and darkens the theatre at his pleasure; and thus there is a secret path which belongs to God, while the conduct of life belongs to us. The rules of duty are plain and clear; the issue of events is in the hand of God, because he alone knows them. You know not the time of your death, nor the manner of your death—whether in the midst of life and happiness, or when sunk under a burden of agony and infirmity—whether it will be among your friends, or alone in the wilderness. These things are all sealed up under the hand of God, and placed among his darkest secrets. But you know how to make your death happy; you know what course of life will leave you little to dread; you know the prospect beyond the grave; and you know that Christ says to his disciples, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Thus the Christian knows, in the midst of all the obscurity of his path, whither he goes, "and the Way he knows." R. Hall. Mystery is the seal of the infinite, yet benevolence is perpetually present in the Providence which guides human life. We read the love through the mystery, rather than the mystery through the love. Does God keep to himself the secret of germination? On the other hand, he gives us the revelation of golden harvests; the spring kept the secret in her heart, but autumn has filled our barns with plenty. Thus, enough is kept back to prove the power, and enough is given to establish the mercy. To the countless mercies we must recur with thankful hearts when the mysteries dazzle and bewilder our helpless reason. Our own home-life shall witness gratefully to the goodness of God. Thus, while the mysteries hide themselves in light unapproachable, the mercies shall sing to us by day and night, and be unto us as glad promises of still better things to come. J. P. The Gospel would be a departure from the analogy which exists among all the works of our God, did it only reveal what man had previously conjectured, and were faith employed merely to endorse and register, in silent acquiescence, the rescripts which had been prepared for her by human reason. And even in the sciences of this world, narrow and near as is the field of their labors, there are the same inscrutable yet inevitable difficulties, of which the sceptic complains in religion. We expect it of a cultivated and advanced science, that it should assail and overturn many opinions, which to the first glance of ignorant presumption seem indisputable truths. Though the eye sees no motion, and the foot feels no unsteadiness, and no jarring is perceived within or around us, astronomy comes back to the inquirer with the startling assurance, that, notwithstanding all these seeming evidences to the contrary, the earth on which he reposes is ceaselessly and most rapidly whirling along its trackless path in the heavens; and that, moment by moment, he is borne along through the fields of space with a fearful and inconceivable velocity. And when, from further wanderings, but on better testimony—when from a higher and stranger world, but with fuller evidence and with more indubitable tokens of her veracity, faith comes back, bringing assurances that tally not in all things with our preconceived conjectures, shall she be chidden and blasphemed for the difficulties that arise from our own ignorance? Without the mysteries of the Gospel, revelation would be unlike all the other provinces of human knowledge, and the domains of faith would be dissimilar from all the rest of the handiwork of God. W. R. Williams. This Gospel of the Christ stands apart, to our thought, from every scheme of philosophy or ethics, from any human scheme of religion. We accept it as coming from the mind and will which fashioned the heavens, and which here have interposed to give direct and inestimable light on matters of immortal concern. If any one asks, "Do you fully comprehend the marvellous facts which you thus affirm?" we cheerfully answer, "Certainly not; any more than we understand life, or mind, the power of the will, or the secret of sunbeams; but we gladly accept them, on what to us is the clear and sure witness of God." If any one asks, "Are you not staggered, in the faculty of believing, by the story of miracles?" our reply is immediate, "Certainly not; since we recognize in them a Divine power, intervening in history, on an adequate occasion, for a purpose as sublime as are the amazing means employed; and we can no more set limits to that power than we can count the moments of eternity." Miracles, from God, are intrinsically as credible as is the poem or the picture to which genius gives birth, but which we cannot rival. The only questions which appear to us pertinent concern the ends which they subserve, with the testimony offered for them. Or, if we are asked, "How the Father can be Divine, the Son Divine, and the Spirit Divine, and yet but one God fill the immensities?" our answer is, that the mystery only enhances to our thought the infinite glory, and opens into brighter depths the wonders of that exalted state where what we cannot know on earth shall be revealed to illuminated minds and purified hearts. The mystery in any of the truths of the Gospel is not for us a bar to believing. It is rather an encouragement to such belief; since we do not expect to comprehend God, or to learn from him what is simply commonplace. In accepting such truths we are gratefully conscious of an immediate intellectual contact with the spiritual sphere. From realms inaccessible to lenses or calculations descend upon our minds these high instructions. We seem to ourselves to communicate with the soul from which ours have sprung, and before which extend the shining expanses of truth and of life. The earth becomes sacred, because such revelations have opened above it celestial prospects. The order of history takes its vivid interpretation from the Divine mission central in it; while the premonitions of glory or of gloom which are shot upon responsive spirits from the coming immortality add solemnity to our worship, and the supreme intensity to our life. Storrs. “THINGS REVEALED BELONG TO US AND OUR CHILDREN” (verse 29). The “things revealed” include all that is essential to direct and control our conduct so as to secure present peace and ultimate happiness. They comprise everything we need to know concerning our relations to God, to his Law, his providence, and his grace, in the life that now is and the life that is to come. Especially (and this is their pre-eminent aim and value) the whole truth touching our moral alienation from God, the Divine provisions for our recovery from sin in its penalty, impurity, and power, and our restoration to the likeness, the favor, and the fellowship of God—all this needful disclosure is written by infinite love in lines of light upon the pages of the Word Revealed. These hopeful, helpful, inspiring truths are unfolded to our faith simply as facts, which rest upon the clearest, most conclusive evidence. With whatever lies behind these facts neither reason nor faith has aught to do, save reverently and submissively to bow. B. Those things which God has revealed to us we may know, because God has discovered them to us; and we are bound, with all diligence, to search after the knowledge of them, because they are proposed to us as the rule of our life, and the condition of our happiness. More than God has made known to us of this kind we cannot discover. Only in general, this one thing we may depend upon as certain, that no secret counsel or purpose of God can be contrary to his will revealed in his Word. Upon what conditions God has appointed that men should be happy or miserable, he has clearly and fully revealed to us in his Holy Scriptures; and more than this it is neither necessary nor possible for us to know. S. Clarke. The purpose of revelation is not to gratify curiosity, but to secure obedience in the successive generations. In other words, it is not speculative, but practical. The objections urged against revelation largely consist in the disappointments of speculative curiosity. Because God did not inform man scientifically about the crecation of the world; because he did not deliver an articulated theological system; because he did not compose a philosophical text-book—therefore this popular, miscellaneous, and discursive book cannot be Divine. But so far from such arguments being valid, they go to substantiate the Divine character of the book. For it is an intensely practical book. It takes up man in the family, and urges him to obey God and try to get his children to obey Him. It reveals God as a Father seeking the obedience and trust of his human children, and inviting them to the heaven of obedience to his commandments. It makes man understand sufficient about God to know the duty and the blessedness of obeying him. Edgar. We see here the maxim that ought to regulate our zeal with respect to religious truth—namely, to direct it to those things that are revealed, and in proportion to the plainness with which they are revealed. The want of this distinction has been a fruitful source of dispute among Christians, and has furnished much food for hurtful speculation. R. Hall. — And this further shows how unreasonably men object against the mysterious wisdom of the Gospel; since all that the Gospel prescribes to us as our duty is plain and evident: all that is mysterious is on God’s part and relates entirely to the surprising acts of Divine wisdom and mercy in the redemption of the world. As a rule of action, no religion was ever so plain, so calculated upon the principles of reason and nature; so that natural religion itself had never more natural religion in it. If we consider the end proposed to us, and the means used to entitle us to the benefit of it, it grows mysterious, and soars above the reach of human reason; for God has done more for us than reason could teach us to expect, or can now teach us to comprehend. Let us then do our part, which we plainly understand, and let us trust in God that he will do his, though it exceeds the strength of human wisdom to comprehend the length and depth and breadth of that wisdom and mercy which God has manifested to the world through his Son Christ Jesus our Lord. Sherlock. De. 30 1 AND it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peo- 4 ples, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine outcasts be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will be 5 fetch thee : and the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it ; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. 6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD 7 thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in all the work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, for good : for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced 10 over thy fathers : if thou shalt obey the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law ; if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. 15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil ; in that I command 16 thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgements, that thou mayest live and multiply, and that the LORD 17 thy God may bless thee in the land whither thou goest in to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, and thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and 18 serve them ; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish ; ye shall not prolong 19 your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go in to possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse : therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed : 20 to love the LORD thy God, to obey his voice, and to cleave unto him : for he is thy life, and the length of thy days : that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. 30 : 1-10. It is very comforting to pass from so gloomy a chapter as the twenty-eighth to such a paragraph as this. In this thirtieth chapter, the onlook and outlook of Moses are much more extended than before. So distantly is his eye cast now, that he sees in the horizon a belt of glory bounding his view. C. C. — The thirtieth chapter foresees the tribes of Israel under punishment and expelled from their home, or taken captive by other nations. Then follows the preaching of repentance, so powerfully carried out by Jeremiah, Hosea, Ezekiel, and other prophets of a later time. Turning to God with the heart and hearkening again to his voice, the people were to be restored to their land and to his favor. Of this, Moses was permitted to give them early assurance ; and thus with a breadth of mercy and hope ended his weighty discourse to the people. Think of the aged prophet thus foreseeing the mischief that would come on a rebellious people ! D. F. These promises had no doubt their partial fulfilments in the days of the Judges ; but the fact that various important features of them are repeated in Jer. 32 : 37 sqq., and in Ezek. 11 : 19 sqq., 34 : 13 sqq., 36 : 24 sqq., shows that none of these was regarded as exhausting the promises. In full analogy with the scheme of prophecy we may add that the return from the Babylonian captivity has not exhausted their depth. The New Testament takes up the strain (e.g., Rom. 11), and foretells the restoration of Israel to the covenanted mercies of God. True, these mercies shall not be, as before, confined to that nation. The “turning again of the captivity” will be when Israel is converted to him in whom the Law was fulfilled, and who died “not for that nation only,” but also that he might “gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad” (John 11 : 51, 52). Then shall there be “one fold and one shepherd” (John 10 : 16). But whether the general conversion of the Jews shall be accompanied with any national restoration, any recovery of their ancient prerogatives as the chosen people ; and further, whether there shall be any local replacement of them in the land of their fathers, may be regarded as of “the secret things” which belong unto God ; and so indeed our Lord himself teaches us (Acts 1 : 6, 7). The letter of the verses before us and of the parallel passages seems indeed to point to both a national and a local return of Israel. On the other hand, in this very passage verse 6 seems plainly to intimate that in the kingdom of the Messiah the ceremonies and ordinances at any rate shall reach that accomplishment in which the outward sign shall be superseded by the thing signified (cf. Rom. 2 : 29). And God’s purpose may be similar as regards the promises. The restoration here foretold may be realized, and the promises to Abraham most abundantly fulfilled to Israel, yet not to the Israel "according to the flesh" merely, but to that spiritual Israel whose promised land is not narrowed to an earthly Canaan. To us however the exact import of the prophecies respecting the future of the Jews must remain as yet, as was the similar inquiry respecting the Messianic prophecies in pre-Messianic days, matter of reverent search and discussion only. Espin. The hopes of the Hebrew people are ardently directed to these promises, and they confidently expect that God, commiserating their forlorn and fallen condition, will yet rescue them from all the evils of their long dispersion. They do not consider the promise as fulfilled by their restoration from the captivity in Babylon, for Israel was not then scattered in the manner here described—"among all the nations," "unto the utmost parts of heaven" (verse 4); and when God recalled them from that bondage, all the Israelites were not brought back, they were not multiplied above their fathers (verse 5), nor were their hearts and those of their children circumcised to love the Lord (verse 6). It is not, therefore, of the Babylonish captivity that Moses was speaking in this passage; it must be of the dispersed state to which they have been doomed for eighteen hundred years. This prediction may have been partially accomplished on the return of the Israelites from Babylon; for, according to the structure and design of Scripture prophecy, it may have pointed to several similar eras in their national history; and this view is sanctioned by the prayer of Nehemiah (Neh. 1:8, 9). But undoubtedly it will receive its full and complete accomplishment in the conversion of the Jews to the Gospel of Christ. At the restoration from the Babylonish captivity, that people were changed in many respects for the better. They were completely weaned from sensible idolatry; and this outward reformation was a prelude to the higher attainments they are destined to reach in the age of Messiah, "when the Lord God will circumcise their hearts and the hearts of their seed to love the Lord." The course pointed out seems clearly to be this: that the hearts of the Hebrew people shall be circumcised (Col. 2:2); in other words, by the combined influences of the Word and Spirit of God, their hearts will be touched and purified from all their superstition and unbelief; they will be converted to the faith of Jesus Christ as their Messiah—a spiritual deliverer, and the effect of their conversion will be that they will return and obey the voice (the Gospel, the evangelical law) of the Lord. The words may be interpreted either wholly in a spiritual sense (John 11:51, 52), or, as many think, in a literal sense also (Rom. 11). Jamieson. Their conversion to Christ is to be the preliminary condition of their acceptance with God; for so long as their nation continues in a state of rebellion against Christ, they are not fit to be redeemed. And, in conformity with Moses, our Lord declared to the unbelieving Jews, "Behold your house" of the Lord "is left unto you desolate: for I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say," with hearty repentance and true faith, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt. 23:38, 39). Dr. Hales. 1. These things are come upon thee.** Amid multiplied instances of oppression, misery, and contempt, the Jews have resolutely continued through eighteen hundred years a separate and distinct people. Their God hath not cast them away, nor abhorred them, "to destroy them utterly;" their great and wonderful plagues, which were to be "of long continuance," still remain; the curses are yet upon them, which, in the strong language of Scripture, were to be "for a sign and for a wonder" upon them and their seed forever (De. 28:46, 59). Not mingled and lost among the kingdoms over which they have been scattered, they retain the means, upon their returning obedience, of beholding "their captivity turned," and of being "gathered from the nations" and restored to "the land of their fathers." No cause but the Divine interposition can satisfactorily explain this extraordinary condition of a whole people. Richards.— Call to mind. The repentance described, which is the condition of these promises, begins in serious consideration, "Thou shalt call to mind that which thou hadst forgotten, or not regarded." Consideration is the first step toward conversion (Is. 46:8), Bring to mind, O ye transgressors. The prodigal son came to himself first, and then to his father. But that which is the life and soul of repentance, and without which the most passionate expressions are but a jest, is, returning to the Lord our God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. H.—When Israel in his banishment brings back the Word of the Lord to his heart, and thus returns to the Lord, then the Lord returns to his mercy—i.e., to his people languishing in trouble; and this return is shown by his collecting them again. 5. This is the first of the many prophecies which represents the restoration of the people of Israel as a return unto their land, while Lev. 26:45 only speaks of the continuance of the covenant. But it by no means follows, that because their expulsion from their land is to be understood literally, therefore the return must be taken literally likewise. Rather, it is an essential characteristic of the whole work of redemption, that it not merely restores what was forfeited, but gives in its place something higher and more glorious. The redemption through Christ does not put man in the position of Adam's innocence, and reinstate him in paradise, but the earthly paradise is a type of the heavenly (Luke 23:44), to which Christ admits his redeemed. He who for Christ's sake leaves all that he has, does not receive a literal, but a far more glorious compensation, in this world; and so the restitution of earthly losses is a type of the reward of believers. Just as little were the promises of seeing Christ again (John 14:19; 16:16) fulfilled in what took place after the resurrection; and in like manner this and similar predictions were not fulfilled in Israel's return after the Babylonish captivity. A literal restoration of the people of Israel would have renewed the old mode of life with all its deficiencies, and would have been of no moment to the kingdom of God under the New Covenant. Paul explains the true sense of this prophecy (Rom. 11), and refers its fulfilment partly to the going forth of the elect into the new church, partly to the conversion of the whole people still to come, which shall pour fresh life into the whole kingdom of God on earth, the precursor of their entrance into the heavenly Canaan. Gerl. The prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures do not outrun their historic relations. They take the definite and accurate form of the Hebrew polity. They are history pushed forward and perfected in the future. The reign of one king is made the promise of another king who is greater. The services of one high-priest are made the type of another transcending all his predecessors. The holy of holies and the blood of sprinkling all promise a better sacrifice in a better tabernacle. A national deliverance from foreign subjugation is made to foreshadow a larger and worthier redemption; and so throughout the whole structure of the Hebrew prophecies. They take the form, the well-defined form, of those historic objects and events from which they sprung. History and prophecy are joined together in all the progress of revelation. Men may reason, conjecture, imagine what will come to pass; and events may justify the preprediction. But the peculiarity of the Hebrew prophets was that, springing out of a historic present, they described a historic future. They promise another Zion, another King, another Prophet, another Priest, another Redeemer, in the use of language which actual history had formed and made intelligible; so that, as a whole, they pledge the coming of a living person, and the rise of an actual state of things which may best be represented by all of dignity, and honor, and power, and dominion—by all of purity, and gladness, and greatness, which had already been associated with Jewish history. Our religion is not composed of mere ideas, but of facts. And that future which is made bright by the Hebrew prophets is not like the aurora of the northern pole, flashing its formless brilliancy in vacancy; it promises the advent of a living Being, who is to proclaim truth, deliver from wrong, and establish a perpetual and universal reign of righteousness, love, and joy. H. B. S. "God hath not cast away his people." Concerning them there is a twofold promise: of their conversion to God, and of their restoration to their land. Both are certain. Both will be fulfilled. The first, in their conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ. The second, in whatever sense the Holy Ghost used the words, but what that sense is is not so clear. When Israel is thus restored, it will be like "life from the dead" (Rom. 11:15). When the long-lost nation is regathered, when it returns with weeping and supplication to the Saviour, and, saved by him, sings the songs of Zion, then will it become by its evangelistic zeal what it now is by its sacred literature—a priesthood for the world! Concerning all this, the fulfilment of past prophecy is a prophecy of future fulfilment! Let us, then, ever hold the Hebrew race in high honor. "Salvation is of the Jews." Let us bear them on our hearts in prayer. C. C. 6. Repentance leads to entire renewal of a man's nature. "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed." Honest endeavors after a righteous life shows to us a corrupt heart—a heart prone to love evil. The man who begins to pray for pardon soon learns to pray for purity. Nothing will satisfy the mind (when divinely illumined) short of complete regeneration. The repentant Jew discovered that the circumcision of the flesh effected nothing to deter from sin; now he perceives that circumcision of heart is the only real safeguard. At a later day, this inward change was more clearly pictured: "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh." To the same effect Jesus promised: "If ye keep my commandments, I will send you another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth, who dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." D. D. 7. Will put all these curses upon thine enemies.** We have examples of this in Nebuchadnezzar, in Belshazzar, and in Antiochus Epiphanes, who were the three most remarkable oppressors of the Jewish nation. Pyle.—Jacob, in his prophecy, figuratively foretold the retaliation of Divine vengeance upon the persecutors of the Jews (Gen. 49: 11). Balaan comcisely foretold it in his last prophecy (Nu. 24: 24), and Moses more plainly in this passage; but it was reserved for the ensuing ode to describe these judgments in all their terrors. (See next section.) Hales. 9. Repentance in men awakens purest joy in God. "The Lord will again rejoice over thee for good." So Jesus himself affirmed: "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." Union of nature and of interest between man and God is intimate. "His glory is great in our salvation." "He will rejoice over us with singing." The gladness of Jehovah at the completeness and beauty of creation was great; a hundred-fold greater will be his joy at the final success of redemption. Messiah will "see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." D. D.—In a wider regard, this whole passage teaches that to the penitent there is: Forgiveness, with reversal of sentence of rejection (verse 3). Redemption from bondage (verses 3, 4; Col. 1: 13). Restoration to inheritance (verse 5; Eph. 1: 14). A new heart and spirit (verse 6). Deliverance from enemies (verse 7; 2 Thess. 1: 5, 6). Untold blessings (verse 9; Eph. 1: 3). Orr. FINAL IMPASSIONED APPEAL OF MOSES (verses 15-20). The mightiest of legislators, preparatory to his death, invoked heaven and earth to record that he had placed before his people life and death, and had sent forth his benedictions and his curses to his children of Israel; he had warned them, that by the strict observance of this law, without addition or diminution, their existence depended as "a holy" and "a peculiar people." Never more than on that solemn farewell were this people of children stricken by terror and prophecy. The last appearance of Moses among his people is an incident at once awful and pathetic; and the prescient imprecations, eloquent and terrible, present altogether a scene without a parallel in profane history. D'Israeli. The intense eagerness of Moses for the people's weal is a sublime spectacle of generous devotement—an unparalleled instance of ardent affection. Calling up all his powers of persuasive and passionate appeal, he makes a final effort to win the tribes for God. D. D. 15-20. Death and life set before the people. In this earnest word Moses is summing up his deliverance. It has been called by Hävernick "the classic passage" upon the subject of death and life as understood in Old Testament times. "Shut out from the true community of life," says Hävernick, "the sinner puts in only a pretended life, without God, enduring and promoting ruin in himself, until death physical, with its terrors, overtakes him. The Divine penalty manifests itself to the sinner as death." As we love God with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, we find that we have begun to live. On the other hand, the loveless life is only a pretended life, and carries within itself the "Anathema Maran-atha." Love gives birth to new obedience, and obedience strengthens the spiritual life. Separation from the source of life is death indeed. In this striking passage, while "good" and "life" go together, so do "death" and "evil." The idea in death is not cessation of existence, but separation from God. Adam and Eve died the day they doubted God's love and ate the fruit. They ceased not to exist that day, but died out of fellowship with God. Hence we are not to associate an annihilation view with the biblical idea of death. Men die when they are separated from God as really as the branch broken from the stem. Sin is the mother of death (Jas. 1: 15) It brings it forth, because it separates the soul from him who is the Fountain of life. Elyar.—Words cannot paint sin. It is only in the light of the great white throne, or by the flames of hell, or in the revealing light of the Holy Spirit, that any one can see the real character of sin. It is the enemy of God. It is the transgressor of his law. It is the great soul-poison and heart-plague. It is the only thing which really defiles or deforms the man. It is pollution, misery, guilt, incipient hell. It is the only thing to which we can give, in its fullest sense, the emphatic name of evil. Hamilton. "Life" is more than existence—it is holy and happy existence. "Death" is not equivalent to non-existence. As respects the natural life, it is the separation of the living, thinking principle from the body, and is compatible with the survival of the soul in a future state. As respects the spiritual life—that life which the believer has, and the unbeliever has not, even now while yet both have conscious being—death is the cessation in the soul of all holy, spiritual functions, implying a state of moral ruin and disorganization, but by no means the wiping out of consciousness. “Death,” in verse 15, is deemed compatible with experience of “evil.” How strange that between such alternatives there should be a moment’s hesitation! Orr. ALTERNATIVE LINES OF CONDUCT. All possible courses of life are reduced to two—one of which every man must take; a third course is excluded. The two are separately described. (1) The course of loyalty is described by the man’s state of heart, “To love the Lord thy God.” This determines all that follows—the root out of which all flowers and fruits of obedience spring. This love arises from a right appreciation of God. “He is thy life,” yea, the life of thy life. The life promised is nothing less than the life of God. “We shall be like him.” (2) The course of disloyalty is defined as a dislike of God: “If thine heart turn away.” The destiny of disloyalty is destruction: “Ye shall surely perish.” 16,19. Every element of needed information is furnished; and personal examination of spiritual facts is expected. Every man is bound to investigate, to ponder, to judge. There is authoritative command. “I command thee.” On the side of righteous precept there is supreme authority. Every appeal of God is an appeal to the noblest part of our nature—to conscience. Every solicitation of the tempter is an appeal to appetite and passion. There is tender entreaty. To the activities of wisdom and authority is added the impulse of love. If man’s benevolent love prompt him to use all measures to turn the disloyal unto God: how much deeper must be the love of God, of which man’s affection is but a faint adumbration! With all the pathos which human sympathy can lend to entreaty Moses pleads, “therefore choose life.” D. D. 19. Choose.** To force his will were to destroy the nature of his creature, which grace is not designed to do, but only to heal and assist it; and, therefore, God deals with man as a free agent, by instructions and commands, by promises and threatenings, by allurements and reproofs, by rewards and punishments. So true is the saying of Tertullian, “No man is made good against his will.” Bp. Womack.—“Therefore choose life.” Choice or moral determination underlies our salvation. Choice underlies the possibility of love to God. One deep choice in the heart’s centre underlies all the separate acts of choice involved in a life of obedience. The choice God wishes involves the choosing of Himself, with a view to love him, to obey him, and to cleave to him. The choice of God is the choice of life, and carries all lesser good with it. Orr. Here is presented a series of considerations, cumulative in their force, which should be deeply pondered in strict order of progress. (1) Here is a great mass of truth set before men’s consciences and hearts. There are few words and phrases here given, in form most short and simple, yet in meaning how august! how deep! how high! They are such as these—God—the Lord thy God—good—evil—life—death—blessing—cursing. “Dread words! whose meaning has no end, no bound.” There are immeasurable, yea, infinite realities behind them. And having once been lodged in the conscience with the significance which is theirs, no power can dislodge them, nor can any one cause it to be to the man as if he had never heard them. (2) A great duty presses on men with whom this truth is deposited. To love the Lord, to obey him, to cleave to him, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and judgments—this is obviously the right course for men to follow. The Lord God is holy, and all his commandments are so too; and it is intrinsically and manifestly right to follow what is holy. As our Maker and Preserver, God has supreme claims on our loyalty of heart and life. As our Lawgiver, he has the infinite right to require our obedience. As our Infinite Benefactor, having commended his love toward us, having bought us with a price, he has a claim of love as well as a right of law. And it is not possible for a man to dispute this claim unless his nature is becoming so perverted that he begins to call evil good, or good evil. (3) A great blessing will follow loyalty and obedience. This is so under the Gospel, as really as under the Law. For the Law rested on a basis of gospel, and the Gospel brings with it its own law. The Gospel call is, “Repent, believe, obey.” This is the precise and immutable order. The grace of God teaches us that “we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope,” etc. And we know what is the promised issue: “Godliness . . . hath promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” “For God is our life and the length of our days.” Peace, joy, hope, and all joyful graces and blessings attend on a life which is in accordance with God’s will. (4) It is not possible that opposite moral courses should have like issues. If to love and obey God be good and tends to good, then the reverse must be evil, and can work nothing but evil. And such ill effects must, for aught we know, go on forever and ever unless something or some being interposes. The outlook for the despisers of Christ in the next life is darkness without a gleam of the light of hope in the distant horizon. And even in this life nothing but woe can possibly be to him who striveth with his Maker. (5) There are witnesses that we have not been left undirected and unwarned. Compare with this solemn adjuration of Moses that of Paul in Acts 20:26, 27; Phil. 1:8. "Heaven" was witness. For every warning given to men in God's name is known and received on high. "Earth" is witness, for the record of the warning is published to the world. C. C. The Bible, all through, presses men with threatenings of punishment, and holds out to them promises of happiness to lead them to a new life. But this is to be remembered, that it begins its work with men who are sunk in sin, and that the essence of sin is selfishness. It must arrest and raise them by motives adapted to their condition, provided that these motives are not wrong, and enlightened self-interest—that is, self interest which is consistent with the good of others, is not wrong. The Bible is too broad and human not to bring all fair motives into exercise. It is too philosophical to lose itself in the over-refinements of some modern philosophies which touch fallen human nature as a needle might a coat of mail. It has its still small voice, but it has its thunder before it. The sleeper must be roused to listen; and before the Gospel, and even with it, we must have Sinai's word, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." All through, in the Old Testament and also in the New, we have the principle, "If thou art wise thou shalt be wise for thyself." "Behold I have set before thee death and life." But the Bible is constantly advancing from the domain of threatening and outward promise to that of free and unselfish love. Its strength of appeal from the very beginning lies in the mercy of God pardoning unconditionally—a mercy which, when the clouds are severed, is seen to be the face of the Son of God and the Man of Sorrows devoting himself for those who had no claim on him but that of guilt and misery. He comes from a throne to a cross for them, and we see written on it, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us." This love comes from a Divine fountain through a human heart that human hearts may feel the responsive throb, "We love him who first loved us." When his law is inculcated, it is not that punishment may be escaped, but affection manifested. If heaven is promised, it is not a conditional reward, but a free and godlike gift; and this heaven in its essence is not a world of external delight, but of inward joy in the love and likeness of God, and deliverance from that sin and tyrant self, which are now our prison and our pain. As a man rises into the knowledge of the Divine plan he seeks and serves God, not from the hope of what he is to receive from him, but from the delight which he finds in him—in the true, the pure, the loving that dwell in the Father of Lights, and that in their present possession contain the pledge of eternal inheritance. Ker. As there is but one alternative hereafter—heaven for the holy, and hell for the unholy—so on earth there is either confession or denial of God. They who do not deny him confess him: those who do not confess, deny him. Surely this is an awful thought! Where then are—not the undoubted, bold, and rebellious sinners, but the easy, quiet, peaceful people? those who live like their neighbors, and do not desire or pretend to be singularly holy? those who do as much as in men's judgments will do, and spare themselves further trouble? those whom unpopularity affrights, and opposition makes so cautious, that they do nothing? Can they believe themselves to be confessors—brave, earnest, and invincible confessors—before men, whose confession will, through God's mercy in Christ, earn his confession in the day of judgment? Can they imagine this? And if they be not confessors, what are they? G. M. Ardor must be matched with consistency. You are not to be carried to heaven by a fitful religion, periodically raised from the dead at seasons of social exhilaration; not by a religion alive at church, but stagnant in the streets and in the market-places; not by a religion kindling at some favored hour of sentimental meditation, only to sink and flicker in the drudgery of common work. It is to little purpose that we read and circulate and preach the Bible, except all our reading and all our living gain thereby a more Biblical tone. And it is quite futile that our breasts glow with some fugitive feeling in the house of God, unless that feeling dedicates our common dwellings to be all houses of God. There must be prayer to hallow labor. There must be faith to consecrate enterprise. There must be holiness to sanctify business. There must be a cordial "Thy will be done," uttered to a personal God, to interpret suffering. F. D. H. Religion is no dry morality; no slavish punctilious conforming of actions to a hard law. Religion is not right thinking alone, nor right emotion alone, nor right action alone. Religion is still less the semblance of these in formal profession, or simulated feeling, or apparent rectitude. Religion is not nominal connection with the Christian community, nor participation in its ordinances and its worship. But to be godly is to be Godlike. The full accord of all the soul with His character, in whom, as their native home, dwell "whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely," and the full glad conformity of the will to his sovereign will, who is the life of our lives—this, and nothing shallower, nothing narrower, is religion in its perfection; and the measure in which we have attained to this harmony with God, is the measure in which we are Christians. If we look backward from character and deed to motive, this harmony with God results from love becoming the ruling power of our lives. The love revealed is the perfect law, and the love evoked is the fulfilling of the Law. And this is the might and nobleness of the Christian love to God; that it is no idle emotion or lazy rapture, no vague sentiment, but the root of all practical goodness, of all strenuous effort, of all virtue, and of all praise. A. M. SPECIAL MESSAGES: ENCOURAGING ASSURANCES TO THE PEOPLE. INSPIRING CHARGE TO JOSHUA. PRIESTS AND ELDERS TO PRESERVE AND PUBLICLY READ THE WRITTEN LAW. PUBLIC SUMMONS OF MOSES AND JOSHUA TO THE TABERNACLE. DIVINE ANNOUNCEMENT AND SPECIAL COMMAND TO MOSES. JEHOVAH'S CHARGE TO JOSHUA. THE LAW COMPLETED AND PLACED BY THE ARK. This commandment is not hidden, neither far off. The law of loving and obeying God, which was the subject of Moses’s discourse, was well known to the Israelites. They could not plead ignorance of its existence and requirements. It was not concealed as an impenetrable mystery in heaven, for it had been revealed; nor was it carefully withheld from the people as a dangerous discovery; for the youngest and humblest of them were instructed in those truths, which were subjects of earnest study and research among the wisest and greatest of other nations. They were not under a necessity of undertaking long journeys or distant voyages, as many ancient sages did in quest of knowledge. They enjoyed the peculiar privilege of a familiar acquaintance with it. It was with them a subject of common conversation, engraven on their memories, and frequently explained and inculcated on their hearts. Jamieson. The things revealed are not "hidden"—that is, abstruse and hard to be understood; nor "far off"—that is, out of thy reach, so that thou canst pretend thou canst not attain to them. They are not "in heaven"—that is, locked up there as a secret, but revealed from thence; nor "beyond the sea"—that is, at such a distance as will expose men to great danger to arrive at them. But they are "very nigh" thee indeed, as that which thou ownest with "thy mouth," and dost with "thy mind" assent to. Bp. Kidder.—The word was brought "very nigh unto them," even to their very doors, by Moses the servant of God, who now delivered to them the Divine will; as the Son of God himself did afterward, when he came and dwelt among them: and it was made so familiar to them, that they might always have it in their common discourse, to teach it their children; and it had now been so often repeated, that it might well be laid up in their memory, never to be forgotten. Bp. Patrick.—Since God himself pronounces his "commandment" so easy to be observed, because it was "not hidden from them, neither far off," it must have been the Israelites' own inexcusable fault, and a voluntary rejection, if, having life and death set before them, they would not choose life, it being absolutely in their own choice: and our task is yet so much more easy than theirs was, besides our being freed from the ceremonial law, in that we have no temptation to that crying sin of idolatry, which was their destruction. Lord Carendon. 11. God's Word is a "commandment." It comes to men with all the character of a law. It is not possible that we should treat it as we please. We are not permitted to mutilate or dismember it—not permitted to accept a part and reject a part. As in a tree the living sap runs into every branch and twig and leaf, so that we cannot pluck the tiniest part without breaking the vital current; so every part of God's Scripture is instinct with high authority, nor can we neglect the least commandment without defying the majesty of heaven. We are bound to bow our wills to it; it will, in no degree, bend its requirements to suit our tastes. D. D. 14. On the part of scriptural truth, there is an exquisite fitness to meet the capacity of men's minds and the needs of their souls. "The word is nigh thee; yea, in thy very heart." There is perfect accord between the constitution of the man and the contents of revelation. The Bible is the counterpart and complement of conscience. It is obvious that the Lord of conscience is Lord of Scripture also. The Bible says, "Thou hast sinned;" and conscience admits the fact. The Bible says, "Thou art helpless to save thyself;" and conscience knows it true. The Bible declares that happiness is inseparable from obedience; and conscience feels that it is so. There is a living witness in every man (until gagged by sin) which testifies to the authority and necessity and reasonableness of God's Law. D. D. God came down to Mount Sinai, and spoke to the people directly. The trouble then was that he was too near; they wished him farther away. Then prophets came, and for fifteen hundred years the word was brought very nigh to men. At last God's Son became incarnate, and brought the message so close to men that only the proud escaped it. The whole genius of revelation is contained in the remarkable words, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." The revelation is for babes; for men of a childlike—not a childish—spirit; for men who have laid aside their pride and presumption, and can take truth trustfully from the Infinite Father. The idea is surely monstrous that God cannot break his Divine bread small enough for his human children; that none but men of a certain mental calibre can get hold of the food or digest it. It is surely a diviner plan to bring the truth so plainly home that none have any excuse for rejecting it. We must humble ourselves, and recognize the truth brought in Jesus Christ to our very door. If we required terrific effort to reach the truth, we would boast that we had succeeded through that effort. If it depended on great mental powers and struggle, we would take credit for both. But the fact is, it is brought so near to each of us, and so plainly home, that not one of us can boast of our discovery, but only chide ourselves that it was so long near us and so long overlooked! Elgar. Its essential truths are within the compass of every mind. Every man knows what it is to love; that love is due from each man to his Maker. Every child knows what obedience means: that obedience is due to the Father of our spirits. Truly, some facts concerning the eternal world are so profound that, like ocean-depths, human reason cannot fathom them. But these are not the facts which lie at the foundation of man's safety and hope. The practical duties which appertain to virtue and well-being are so plain that even a child may understand. Whatever difficulty lies in the way of human obedience, it does not lie in the haze or uncertain meaning of the revelation. The difficulty is within a man, not without him. The objects of faith are clearly revealed; we want only an eye to discern them. D. D. The Apostle Paul (Romans 10:6-8) has applied this passage to the Gospel, for the Law of Christ is substantially the same as that of Moses, only exhibited more clearly in its spiritual nature and extensive application, and, accompanied with the advantages of Gospel grace, is practicable and easy. Jamieson.—Paul not merely adopts the language of Moses, but pursues the line of his deepest thought. The prophet anticipated a time when Israel would incur Divine wrath by disobedience, and instructed them to turn with all their hearts to God himself, whose word was very nigh. The apostle in his time saw Israel going astray from God and his righteousness by misuse of the very Law of Moses, and about to incur that penalty of dispersion which lies on them unto this day. Accordingly he labored to teach them the contrast between righteousness which is of the Law and righteousness which is of God by faith, and in order to this, used the language originally employed by Moses for recalling Israel to God; the distinction, however, being made, that, whereas Moses spoke of the revelation of God as their beneficent Ruler made to Israel, Paul spoke of the fuller revelation of the same God in his Son, and the grace and truth that have come by Jesus Christ. This Gospel-teaching, too, the apostle so gave as to enlighten the Gentiles as well as the Jews, because he was a preacher of the Gospel of the grace of God to every creature. D. F. God's commandment under the Gospel is that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. If we ask, as the blind man did, Lord, who is he? or where is he, that we may believe on him? this Scripture gives an answer. We need not go up to heaven to fetch him thence, for he is come down from thence in his incarnation; nor down to the deep to fetch him thence, for thence he is come up in his resurrection. But the word is nigh us and Christ in that word; so that if we believe with the heart that the promises of the incarnation and resurrection of the Messiah are fulfilled in our Lord Jesus, and receive him accordingly and confess him with our mouth, we have then Christ with us, and we shall be saved. He is near, very near, that justifies us. The Law was plain and easy, but the Gospel much more so. H. God had written to Israel the great things of his Law. He had made known his name, his precepts, the conditions of acceptable service, the way of life; had given that people a revelation, full, clear, adequate, adapted to their mental stature, and to their condition as sinners. And it is this evangelical element in Moses's "commandment" which comes clearly to light in Christ, and which is embodied in Paul's doctrine of the "righteousness of faith." The words of this passage apply with increased force to the historical revelation of the Saviour. They strikingly suggest: That man needs a revelation. That he instinctively craves for one. That he would sometimes make great sacrifices in order to get one. But the revelation which man needs most of all is the revelation of a Saviour. He wants to know how he can escape from sin, from guilt, from wrath, from bondage; how he can be restored to holiness, to peace, to blessedness. The "commandment," in its wider sense, gave him this knowledge in part; the full discovery is in the Gospel. The Word, in the preaching of this Gospel, as well as in the circulation of copies of the Scriptures, and the innumerable opportunities enjoyed in Christian lands of getting acquainted with the way of life, has now come very nigh to us. It is in our mouths and in our hearts, while the salvation which the Word makes known is as readily available as the Word itself is simple and intelligible. Orr. Religion is here affirmed to be a very simple thing. These farewell words of Moses touch the high-water mark of his doctrinal teaching, and they are repeated by the Apostle Paul, in the tenth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, as descriptive of the Gospel which he preached. Moses and Paul are in perfect agreement in their conception of what God requires of man. He does not demand impossible things at our hands. He places the truth beyond no earnest man's reach. We are not required to scale the heavens, nor to fathom the abysses, nor to cross the seas, in order to secure the priceless treasure. It has a lodgment in every man's heart, and it springs unbidden to his lips. It simply waits for his confession and obedience. Religion is a very simple thing, and its simplicity constitutes the living unity between the Old Covenant and the New. Peter sums it up in fearing God, and working righteousness; reverence and obedience are its cardinal virtues. Paul defines it as believing in the heart that God raised Christ from the dead, and confessing him with the mouth; trust and obedience are its essential qualities. Elsewhere these are called faith and repentance, a change of life based upon reverence and trust. Nor is this a new version, introduced by Christ and his apostles. Fifteen hundred years before Moses described it in the same way. Two things are emphasized, and only two: turning to the Lord with all the heart, and keeping his commandments. Faith and obedience were the cardinal virtues of the Old Testament religion, as they are of the New. The difference between the two is not essential, but formal. It is the difference between promise and fulfilment. The ground of Abraham's faith was in what God would do; the ground of our faith is in what God has done; and in both cases obedience springs from the same loyal, trustful temper of heart. So far as true religion consists in inward and personal dispositions, and in habits of action growing out of these, it has always been the same, and it has always been very simple. A little child is its best illustration; for it is essentially a life of glad and voluntary trust, and of prompt obedience to him on whom we depend. This conception of piety dominates the entire Old Testament. David did not deceive himself on this matter, but knew that a broken heart and a contrite spirit were God's only acceptable sacrifices. Samuel rebuked Saul when the latter presumed to cover his disobedience by an offering upon God's altar. The prophets never imagined that observance of the elaborate ancient ritual constituted piety. Micah's words are the keynote of the ancient religion: "What doth the Lord require of thee, O man, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Twenty-five hundred years ago those words rang through Samaria and Judah; and not even Paul uttered anything more Christian. The two covenants are one at heart; though we speak of one as the Law, and of the other as the Gospel. Behrends. De. 31 1 AND Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. And he said unto them, 2 I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: and the 3 LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan. The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee; he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess 4 them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath spoken. And the LORD shall do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and unto their 5 land; whom he destroyed. And the LORD shall deliver them up before you, and ye shall do 6 unto them according unto all the commandment which I have commanded you. Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that 7 doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt go with this people into the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; 8 and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. 9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare 10 the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded 11 them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place 12 which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe 13 to do all the words of this law; and that their children, which have not known, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. 14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and 15 Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. And the LORD appeared in 16 the Tent in a pillar of cloud: and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the Tent. And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the strange gods of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach thou it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore unto their fathers, flowing with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are come upon them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore. (So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.) And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore unto them: and I will be with thee 24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death? Assemble unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands. In this chapter the grand old man, with a touching allusion to his infirmities and approaching death, in the presence of the people impressively passes over into the hands of his successor his great trust, and at the same time delivers with suitable instructions to the priests a copy of what he calls "this Law." Up to this point what could be more obvious than a complete oneness of design and representation throughout the Book of Deuteronomy? The beginning (1:3, 5) looks forward to the end; and the end while taking up the very epithets and phrases of the beginning carries on its thought to the only possible climax. It is, in short, the unity of nature, of inward logical dependence and sequence, and no uniformity forced upon it from without. To this unity the two following chapters containing Moses's song and Moses's blessing makes certainly no interruption. They rather grow out of the circumstances that go before, as the flower from its bud. They are strictly Deuteronomic in the best sense of the word and fittingly crown the work; and both are documentarily claimed as utterances of Moses just prior to his climbing of Nebo on his way to the better Canaan. E. C. B. "God buries his ministers, but he carries on his work." Hence Moses first addresses all the people; then he turns to Joshua, confirming him as the future leader (verses 7, 8); and finally to the priests, who are to be henceforth the custodians and guardians of the holy Law. Having thus handed over the leadership of an army, and the conservation of a faith, Moses has little else to do but to go up and die. C. C. —Had Moses lived longer, he could never have been greater than he is. He might have seemed less. Joshua must increase, he must decrease. Fifty, therefore, is he removed before the decline of his influence begins. The great thing is to have done one's work—to have fulfilled the ends for which life was given. That done, removal is in no case a loss, and in most cases a boon in disguise. Orr. Encouraging Assurances to the People (verses 3-6). Though Moses was no longer to be their leader, he assures them that the Lord would fulfil his engagement to conduct them to the possession of Canaan, even as he had already given them the territory of the kings of the Amorites; and he therefore exhorts them to be of good courage and fearlessly go forward to the conquest of the land. W. L. A. 6. God can never fail the man of faith. Having pledged his presence, we are well insured. For him to forsake his friends is an impossibility. "The mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but never shall the covenant of his faithfulness fail." D. D. Charge of Moses to Joshua in Publicly Transferring the Leadership (verses 7, 8). This stimulating and encouraging charge is replete with assurances of Jehovah's presence and help, and thus of Joshua's certain success in his great mission as leader of the host of God. B. There is something wonderfully pathetic in the great leader, whose eye is yet undimmed, laying down his trust beside the Jordan. He is a hundred and twenty years old, but the Lord hath denied him the privilege of entering the land of promise. He now resigns his command to Joshua as his successor. It might have discouraged the people, the loss of their great leader; but he points them upward to the Lord their God, who had been the real Leader in the exodus and pilgrimage, and who was going at their head across the Jordan. Their faith in the invisible Leader is to be strengthened now that the visible and human leader is to be taken away from them. Besides, they are to have Joshua as the captain of the host. Moses had received a wondrous preparation, first at his mother's knee, next in the palace of Pharaoh, and next in the solitudes of Midian. And Joshua, who is to succeed him as leader, though not as lawgiver, has also received important preparation. He is first associated with Moses in the mount, as he is receiving the Law. He is thus trained to firm faith in the invisible King, and accustomed to his wonders. He is next exercised in battle, leading the Israelites against Amalek and proving himself skilful in the field. He had also, as a spy, become minutely acquainted with the land of promise, and brought up with Caleb an encouraging report. None was so fitted as he for high command. As the twelve were carefully trained to be the apostles of the Church, so was Joshua trained, and so is every one selected for important work. Edgar. Priests and Elders to Keep and to Read the Law (verses 9-13). Moses turns next to the priests and the elders, and to them he commits the custody of the Law, with the injunction to read it to the people at the end of every seven years during the festival of the year of release—viz., at the Feast of Tabernacles, when they appeared before the Lord. The Law was committed to the priests and elders, not merely to preserve it in safe keeping, but that they might see to its being observed by the people. W. L. A. Moses was not only the leader of the people, but also the receiver, transcriber, and guardian of the Law. As the nation became consolidated, this double work could certainly become too heavy for one man to discharge. Hence he commissions one man to be the leader of an army, and another set of men to be the conservators of the truth. Joshua is leader. The priests are to be the keepers and teachers of the Law. C. C. 9. Moses wrote this Law. The Scripture calls all that is contained in these five books by the name of the Law. Paul quotes from Genesis, Nehemiah from Exodus, Josiah from Leviticus, Hezekiah from Numbers, and Joshua from Deuteronomy; yet each speaks of the Law. Bp. Kidder.—It is clear from this passage, as it is from verses 24-26, that Moses is the author of all the five books of Scripture which bear his name. And delivered it.** This solemn delivery of the written Law to the priests and elders was to be to them both a token of the close connection between the ecclesiastical and civil constitution of Israel, and of the incompetence of either the Levites or the elders properly to fulfil their office without the Law of God. Another object of this delivering up of the Law was to lay them under obligation to read it in public every seven years (verse 10), that it might remain sacred and inviolable to the children and posterity of Israel, and to the strangers within their gates. A second delivery of it to the Levites, at which neither the elders nor the people were present, occurs afterward at verses 24-26. This shows that, after the first and solemn delivery, which was intended to impose a special obligation, the book of the Law was taken back, and what is contained from verses 14-23 subsequently appended to it. C. G. B. 10. In the year of release.** The seventh year was chosen for this purpose, because all, both males and females, might then assemble at Jerusalem without detriment to their private interests, for there was a cessation from all labor; they neither sowed nor reaped, and agriculture was altogether at a standstill. There was therefore no business to prevent them from celebrating that festival, whereby God represented to them in a lively manner how miraculously he had preserved their fathers in the desert. The Law indeed commanded them to go forth from their houses every year, and to pass seven days under the boughs of trees; but in the Sabbatical year, when all was at rest at home, it was more convenient for them to go up to Jerusalem from all quarters, that by their very multitude they might the better testify their gratitude. Therefore it is added, "when all Israel is come," etc. Calv. As the reading was to be only once in seven years, it may be concluded that it was not so much for the information of the people that this was done, as for the purpose of publicly declaring and by a solemn ceremony impressing on their minds the condition on which they held their position and privileges as the chosen people of the Lord. The Feast of Tabernacles was appointed as the season for the reading, doubtless because there was a connection between the end for which the Law was read and the spirit and meaning of that festival as a festival of rejoicing because of their deliverance from the wilderness state. W. L. A. It must be thus solemnly read that the present generation might hereby keep up their acquaintance with the Law of God (verse 12). They must hear, that they may learn, and fear God, and observe to do their duty. See here what we are to aim at in hearing the Word; we must hear, that we may learn and grow in knowledge; and every time we read the Scriptures, we shall find that there is still more and more to be learned out of them. We must learn, that we may fear God—that is, that we may be duly affected with Divine things; and must fear God, that we may observe and do the words of his law; for in vain do we pretend to fear him, if we do not obey him. H. 9,24-27. The written Word. The Law here put in writing and solemnly deposited in the side of the ark, is the foundation of our present Bible. All Scripture is built up upon it. The Law was first given, thereafter recorded. Revelation precedes the record of it. The record is inspired (1 Tim. 3:16), and is to us the revelation of the will of God. It is, as well as contains, the Word of God. The line must not be drawn too finely: (1) Between revelation and its history. The threads of revelation cannot be picked out from the texture of its history, and exhibited apart. They constitute one whole; the record embraces both. (2) Between revelation and inspired prophetical discourses—with psalms, poems, wisdom literature, which unfold the principles of revelation, apply and enforce them, turn them into subjects of praise, or deal with them reflectively. For discourses, psalms, didactic literature, add to revelation as well as unfold its meaning. (3) Between revelation and the written Word For that is the revelation to us. It is clothed with its own authority as inspired—an authority the nature and degree of which is a study by itself—and it is clothed with the authoritativeness (objective) inherent in the revelations of which records are preserved. Orr. Substance of Paragraph (verses 14-23). Jehovah next summons Moses and Joshua to the tabernacle, and makes a special manifestation of his glory in the cloud to the people without and to the two leaders within (verses 14, 15). Then God announces (in the hearing of Joshua) the future apostasy of the people and the punishment that shall be visited upon them (verses 16-18). He commands Moses (with the help of Joshua, probably as amanuensis) to write a song that shall abide as a witness against Israel in the future (verses 19-21). Verse 22 is a parenthetical statement that the song was written. Then follows (verse 23) the charge of Jehovah (not Moses) to Joshua, identical in substance with that of Moses in verses 7, 8. B. The transaction recorded in these verses may be regarded as the solemn inauguration of Joshua to the office to which he had some time before (Nu. 27:23 sqq) been called, and his recognition in it by God, which were manifested by his being summoned into the tabernacle with Moses while the Lord appeared in the pillar of cloud. Espin. No authority was vested by the Mosaic constitution in any one man or body of men, nor even in the whole nation assembled, to make new laws or alter old ones; their sovereign Jehovah reserving this power exclusively to himself. On the same grounds the Hebrew constitution recognized no one hereditary chief magistrate, nor gave any power, even to the whole nation, to elect a supreme governor. It was the especial prerogative of Jehovah to appoint whomsoever he pleased to preside over the people as his own immediate vicegerent. And afterward such men, under the title of judge, were from time to time raised up as the exigencies of the State required them, and under a special commission from heaven wrought signal deliverances for their countrymen. Bush. 14. Thy days approach that thou must die. Stretch thy fancy to devise an earthly happiness. Give thee a time of the calmest peace, not an air of trouble stirring; put thee where thou wilt, far off from fear of sword and pestilence, and encompass thee with children, friends, and possessions, and honors, and comfort, and health to enjoy all these; yet one thing thou must admit in the midst of them all, within a while thou must die; and if thou hast no real portion in Christ, thou sinkest through that death into another death far more terrible. Of all thou enjoyest, nothing goes along with thee but unpardoned sin, and that delivers thee up to endless sorrow. Oh, that you were wise and would consider your latter end! Leighton. 16. Sleep with thy fathers.** The words are literally, "lie down with thy fathers," and in this connection are surely significant. They point assuredly to fellowship and rest with the fathers in another life. They cannot refer to any depositing of the remains of Moses in the same tomb as his fathers. His sepulchre was solitary and sacred; his lying down with his fathers, therefore, can only refer to the fellowship in a future life. This is the only place in the Pentateuch where this particular expression occurs, although we meet it in the Books of the Kings no less than twenty-six times. It was undoubtedly an intimation to Moses that he was about to enter into restful fellowship with his fathers, and was most welcome consolation at this peculiarly trying time. Edgar. It is man only who, dying, falls asleep. And the beautiful phrase is too often repeated in the Scriptures to be set aside as a casual metaphor. Hebrew worthies are said to sleep with their fathers. The Psalmist, filled with anticipations of awakening, cries: "Then shall I be satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness." Nor could human language furnish us a more sweet and tranquillizing emblem. It invests the dying form with a promise of restitution; enlightens the darkened chamber; hangs a garland upon the sepulchre. We stand by the couch where a beloved friend has closed his eyes. The doors of sense are shut; the outer world is excluded; but the greater, lovelier, more awful inner world is there. The marble brow; the serene, unmoving features; the settled smile of lips which were late so eloquent; all speak of deep slumber. But Christianity tells me to dismiss my fears; for Jesus comes to awake him out of sleep. J. W. A. 16. God announces to Moses the future apostasy of the people. This is done in the presence of Joshua that the latter might be fully aware of the danger and strive in his day to avert it. This he faithfully did (cf. Josh. 24:31); but we find him in his own last address to Israel repeating (Josh. 23:15, 16) the self-same prediction and warning. Espin. 19. Write ye this song.** This refers to the song which follows in next chapter. Moses and Joshua were both to write this song, Moses probably as the author, Joshua as his amanuensis, because both of them were to do their endeavor to keep the people from that apostasy which God had foretold. W. L. A. 20,21. Yet more definitely the Lord gave Moses some of the inducing causes of this apostasy—viz, fulness of bread; the absence of want and trial; coming into a land flowing with milk and honey. Filling themselves and waxing fat, they will become sensual, pleasure-loving, and lost to the fear of God. So they will turn to other gods. Hence the occasion for this witnessing song, of solemn forewarning, pregnant with moral forces against apostasy and rich in suggestions of untold value for those apostate generations to whom it would specially apply. H. C. Poetic forms will live when prose is quite forgotten. God condescends to every method by which a sense of religious duty might be preserved and perpetuated. The song would live by the action of known law, when the full sense would be ignored. Thus the song of Moses, "familiar in their mouths as a household word," would be an abiding witness against them. Said God, "It shall not be forgotten." By such gracious methods the Most High would win men unto obedience and life. The mightiest power is in gentleness. If this fails, all fails. D. D.—The words of this song would be a constant and silent witness against them for departing from the ways of the Lord. That very book, which if rightly used is "a lamp" to the feet and "a light" to the path, becomes, if neglected, a perpetual and silent accuser. That self-same purpose which was answered by securing permanent records of the Mosaic legislation, is also answered by permanent records of the Christian redemption. C. C. 23. God's charge and Moses's charge were one, "Be strong and of a good courage." What God commands, God first gives. He says to men, "Here is my intrusted strength: use it well! More is ready as soon as it is needed." Best of all, he adds, "I will be with thee." D. D. Verses 24-29. After the installation of Joshua, only one thing remained for Moses to do that all things might be set in order before his departure. This was the finishing of the writing of the book of the Law, and the committing it finally to the priests, to be by them placed by the ark of the covenant, that it might be kept for all future generations as a witness against the people, whose apostasy and rebellion were foreseen. Whether this section is to be regarded as wholly written by Moses himself, or as an appendix to his writing added by some other writer, has been made matter of question. It is quite possible, however, that Moses himself, ere he laid down the pen, may have recorded what he said when delivering the book of the Law to the priests, and there is nothing in the manner or style of the record to render it probable that it was added by another. What follows from verse 30 to the end of the book was probably added to the writing of Moses by some one after his death, though, of course, both the song and the blessing are the composition of Moses. W. L. A. 24. Religion would have been corrupted in a thousand ways, had not its rule been diligently written down for posterity. Moreover, since the books of Moses were for a long time buried through the carelessness of the people and the priests, what darkness of error would have overspread the minds of all, if nothing had been written down! Calv.—The Bible is the true conductor of all the holy influences the world has contained since the dawn of creation. From it the Jewish Church received in a concentrated form all that had distinguished the preceding economies, from the giving of the first promise to its own establishment in Judea. In that Church it may be truly said, Abel, though dead, was ever speaking; and “Enoch, the seventh from Adam,” was ever prophesying of the coming of the Lord. There the patriarchs came and lived again for their posterity. There the rod of Aaron was ever blooming; the manna ever fresh; the rod of Moses ever working and repeating its wonders. There Sinai reared its awful head, and from its thundering top the Law was ever demanding for God the heart of the world, and demanding from every man the love of all the rest. J. H. 26-29. The Pentateuch, in its tremendous charges and indictments against mankind, is in unison with the rest of the Word. It is a sustained witness against the human race. “Others may perhaps suspect,” says Henry Rogers, “that Jewish vanity led the writers thus to ignore or treat lightly the affairs of all nations except their own. The answer is concise, but conclusive. Let Jewish vanity in general be what the reader pleases, these writers would seem to have had none of it. If they have passed by the glorious achievements of secular history, they have recorded all the infamies of their own nation; and, indeed, their principal references to other nations are as ‘scourges’ of their own—scourges justly sent, they confess and avow, for apostasies which had wearied out the patience of Heaven!” The marvel is that Jews and Christians should conspire to preserve what is a most humiliating account of the race. Edgar. The modern rationalist regards it as a “most unnatural supposition” that the Pentateuch was written during the passage of the Israelites through the wilderness; but this is what every unprejudiced reader gathers from the Pentateuch itself, which tells us that God commanded Moses to “write” the discomfiture of Amalek “in a book;” that Moses “wrote all the words of the Law,” and “took the book of the covenant, and read it in the audience of the people,” and “wrote the goings out of the people of Israel according to their journeys, by the commandment of the Lord;” and, finally, “made an end of writing the words of the Law in a book, until they were finished;” and bade the Levites, who bare the ark of the covenant, “take that book of the Law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that it might be there for a witness against the people.” A book, therefore—a “book of the covenant”—a book out of which he could read the whole Law—was certainly written by Moses; and this book was deposited by the ark of the covenant, and given into the special custody of the priests, the Levites, with the stern injunction still ringing in their ears, “Ye shall not add unto the Word neither diminish aught from it” (4:2); and they were charged “at the end of every seven years, in the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles, to read it before all Israel in their hearing” (31:10); and, further, a command was given, that when the Israelites should have kings, each king should “write him a copy of the Law in a book, out of that which was before the priests, the Levites, that he might read therein all the days of his life.” G. R. De. 31 30 AND Moses spake in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished. 32 1 Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak ; And let the earth hear the words of my mouth : 2. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, My speech shall distil as the dew ; As the small rain upon the tender grass, And as the showers upon the herb : 3. For I will proclaim the name of the LORD : Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4. The Rock, his work is perfect ; For all his ways are judgement : A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is he. 5. They have dealt corruptly with him, they are not his children, it is their blemish ; They are a perverse and crooked generation. 6. Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise ? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee ? He hath made thee, and established thee. 7. Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations : Ask thy father, and he will shew thee ; Thine elders, and they will tell thee. 8. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, When he separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. 9. For the LORD's portion is his people ; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. 10. He found him in a desert land, And in the waste howling wilderness ; He compassed him about, he cared for him, He kept him as the apple of his eye : 11. As an eagle that stirreth up her nest, That fluttereth over her young, He spread abroad his wings, he took them, He bare them on his pintons : 12. The LORD alone did lead him, And there was no strange god with him. 13. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, And he did eat the increase of the field ; And he made him to suck honey out of the rock, And oil out of the flinty rock ; 14. Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, With fat of lambs, And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the fat of kidneys of wheat ; And of the blood of the grape thou drankest wine. 15. But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked : Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art become sleek : Then he forsook God which made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16. They moved him to jealousy with strange gods, With abominations provoked they him to anger. 17. They sacrificed unto demons, which were no God, To gods whom they knew not, To new gods that came up of late, Whom your fathers dreaded not. 18. Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, And hast forgotten God that gave thee birth. 19. And the LORD saw it, and abhorred them, Because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. 20. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be : For they are a very froward generation, Children in whom is no faith. 21. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God ; They have provoked me to anger with their vanities : And I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people ; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 22. For a fire is kindled in mine anger, And burneth unto the lowest pit, And devoureth the earth with her increase. And setteth on fire the foundations of the mountains. 23. I will heap mischiefs upon them ; I will spend mine arrows upon them : 24 They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat And bitter destruction ; And the teeth of beasts will I send upon them, With the poison of crawling things of the dust. 25 Without shall the sword bereave, And in the chambers terror ; It shall destroy both young man and virgin, The suckling with the man of gray hairs. 26 I said, I would scatter them afar, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men : 27 Were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misdeem, Lest they should say, Our hand is exalted, And the LORD hath not done all this. 28 For they are a nation void of counsel, And there is no understanding in them. 29 Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end ! 30 How should one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Except their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had delivered them up ? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges. 32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, And of the fields of Gomorrah : Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter : 33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, And the cruel venom of asps. 34 Is not this laid up in store with me, Sealed up among my treasures ? 35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, At the time when their foot shall slide : For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that are to come upon them shall make haste. 36. For the LORD shall judge his people, And repent himself for his servants ; When he seeth that their power is gone, And there is none remaining, shut up or left at large. 37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, The rock in which they trusted ; 38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering ? Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your protection. 39 See now that I, even I, am he, And there is no god with me : I kill, and I make alive ; I have wounded, and I heal : And there is none that can deliver out of my hand. 40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, And say, As I live for ever, 41 If I whet my glittering sword, And mine hand take hold on judgement ; I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, And will recompense them that hate me. 42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, And my sword shall devour flesh ; With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the head of the leaders of the enemy. 43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people : For he will avenge the blood of his servants, And will render vengeance to his adversaries, And will make expiation for his land, for his people. 44 And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, 45 and Hoshea the son of Nun. And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel. In accordance with the Divine injunction, Moses composed an ode, which he recited in the hearing of the people, and committed to writing, to remain with them as a witness for God against them. With this end in view, the ode is directed principally to a contrasting of the unchanging faithfulness of the Almighty with the anticipated perversity and unfaithfulness of his people. The poem may be divided into six parts. (1) An introduction (verses 1-3), in which the importance of the doctrine to be delivered is announced. (2) The blamelessness and excellency of Jehovah are placed in contrast with the corruptness and perversity of Israel (verses 4, 5). (3) The folly and ingratitude of the rebellious people is dwelt upon (verses 7-18). (4) The purpose of God to punish and reject the rebellious generation is declared (verses 19-23). (5) The fulfilment of this purpose in the judgments which should come upon the rebels, while mercy and favor should be showed to those that repented and were humbled under the hand of God (verses 24-34). (6) And finally, the judgment which God would execute on the enemies of Israel, and the mercy he would show to his servants (verses 35-43). In this ode Moses displays the genius of the poet, as in the other parts of this book he has showed the sagacity of the legislator and the skill of the orator. Vigor of diction, elevation of sentiment, vivacity of representation, beauty and sublimity of imagery, characterize this ode throughout. Nor is the piety less noticeable than the poetry; zeal for God, earnest desire for his honor, and devout reverence of his majesty pervade and inspire the whole. W. L. A. The magnificence of the exordium, the grandeur of the theme, the frequent and sudden transitions, the elevated strain of the sentiments and language, entitle this song to be ranked among the noblest specimens of poetry to be found in the Scriptures. It has been beautifully styled "the Song of the Dying Swan." (Loveth.) It was designed to be a national anthem, which it should be the duty and care of magistrates to make well known by frequent repetition, to animate the people to right sentiments toward a steadfast adherence to his service. Jamieson. — This prophetical ode or song of Moses contains a defence of God against the Israelites, and unfolds the method of the Divine judgments. Its opening is singularly elegant and magnificent; its whole arrangement and structure is regular, easy, and adapted to the nature of the subject, in an order nearly historical. It embraces an incredible variety of the most important topics: the truth and justice of God, his fatherly affection and most unwearied loving kindness toward his chosen people; the ungrateful and rebellious disposition of that people in return; then the heat of the Divine displeasure, and its most alarming menaces, delivered in a noble personification, equal in grandeur to anything which exists in the choicest treasures of poetry; at the same time it represents these very tides of indignation occasionally moderated by mildness and compassion, and terminated at length in promises and in consolation. Not to dwell on the loftiness of the sentiments, the impetuosity of the passions, and the force of the figures and the language, such is the nature of the subject that it imitates much of the style and coloring of the prophetical poetry, so that to all the vigor and animation and spirited boldness of the ode it unites that distinguished variety and grandeur of imagery which is peculiar to the prophetical manner. Bp. Loveth. The blessings annexed in the song to faithfulness, whether named as promises or performances, are those which recur commonly in Deuteronomy, and which must have been in the closing months of Moses's life perpetually in his mind; those namely connected with the promised land. Exhibiting as it does in series God's preventing mercies, his people's faithlessness and ingratitude, God's consequent judgments, and the final and complete triumph of the Divine counsels of grace, it forms the summary of all later Old Testament prophecies, and gives as it were the framework upon which they are laid out. Here as elsewhere the Pentateuch presents itself as the foundation of the religious life of Israel in after times. Espin. — This song is the foundation of all after-prophecies, in which we find the same range of ideas, because in fact they represent the history of the ancient covenant of God. Although the greater part of the song is a stern threatening, a solemn declaration of condemnation, yet we may understand from the main idea and end of the whole — viz., the glorifying of the grace and truth of the eternal, faithful covenant-God, how these his words could appear in the eyes of Moses under the image, so especially delectable in the wilderness, of a rain trickling down on the tender grass. We here see the man of God with the awful brightness of the Divine holiness on his countenance, in whom the glory of the Lord was mirrored with unveiled face, and who is thereby glorified into the same image. Refreshed and strengthened by his grace, he is still more firmly built upon the rock of his salvation. Gerl. Into this most remarkable of all his productions Moses condensed the substance of all his warnings and entreaties, and along with them poured his own soul. Than "the song of Moses" Scripture recognizes nothing as more sublime except one other composition, and with that other they are acquainted who have received a harp of gold, and along with "the song of Moses, the servant of God," sing "the song of the Lamb." It has been well termed "the Magna Charta of prophecy," and in its historical recollections and premonitory warnings, in its remonstrances and exhortations, its entreaties and regrets, and, above all, in its loyalty to Jehovah, it supplies the key-note, which we find constantly recurring in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the prophets who come after. Hamilton. It is the compendious anticipatory sketch and the common watchword of all prophecy, and stands related to it as fundamentally as the Decalogue to all laws, and the Lord's Prayer to all prayers. The legislator has here condensed in a song the prophetic contents of his last address, wherewith he lives on in the memory and mouth of the people. He here sets before them their whole history to the end of the days. In this ode each age of Israel has a mirror of its present condition and future fate. This mirror prophecy holds up before its contemporaries. Deletzsch. 1. This majestic vindication of the tutelar God of Israel with his chosen people, and with their persecutors, opens with an animated summons to the inhabitants of heaven and earth, to angels and men, or the whole rational creation, to listen to the prophet's wholesome and refreshing discourse, contrasting the veracity and justice of God with the iniquity and ingratitude of his people. Hales. He feels that the message which burns in his heart is so momentous to his people that all nature—above and beneath—may fitly be summoned to hear. It is his strongest way of saying—Let all people of this and future generations give ear and heart to these messages from the God of heaven and earth. The poet-prophets of Israel in later days adopt the same form of address (Is. 1:2, and Jer. 2:12, and 6:19). 2. "My doctrine"—the truths I teach—"shall drop as the rain;" good for the soul as rain for the grass; refreshing, fraught with real life and the beauty of holiness:—the reason of its great value being, "Because I am to proclaim the name of the Lord"—i.e., his name as significant of his nature. H. C. Distil as the dew. What process in nature can be more exquisitely beautiful than this; more salutary in its results, more illustrative of the goodness and grace of our Heavenly Father? Accordingly, this process is chosen as the sweetest and most perfect image of the gift of God's refreshing word from heaven, and of its reviving, life-giving power to the soul. It is in the still night, when the sky is clear, when the wind is sleeping beneath the sparkling stars, in serenity, in repose, in silence, that the dew abundantly distils its moisture; and so, in the calm, attentive, quiet hour, when the glare of the noon of life passes into the evening, and the throbbing pulses of the world are still, God's precious word settles into the soul. Beautifully is the dew classed among "the precious things of heaven even," in Joseph's blessing; and God himself says, "I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon." When God descends as the dew, it is his truth and his Spirit on the nation and the soul, and everything holy and precious grows and prospers. Cheever. The dew and rain are emblems of the teaching most likely to prove effective. Their action is gentle, silent, pervasive, kindly; yet it is in- vigorative, powerful, deep-reaching. They act on plants by watering their roots. It is not the best kind of teaching which is loud and violent, which tries to force men's convictions. Convictions must have time to grow. Teaching must be loving. The earthquake, the whirlwind, the fire, have their own place, but "the still small voice" is needed to succeed them. The Lord is peculiarly in that. Angry scolding, petulant rebuke, biting censure, clever satire, seldom do much good. Love alone wins the day. Orr. 4. He is the Rock.** Think of the light and the strength there are in this thought, which is repeated again and again and again in this dying song of Moses. What a history there is in this single thought! Here we have the original of all those noble passages in psalms and hymns of believing Israelites in ancient times, and believing Gentiles of all nations in these later days, which represent Jehovah as "the Rock," "the Rock of Ages," "the Rock of our Salvation." J. M. G.—The name must in the first instance have been suggested by the desert-wanderings. Nine times in the course of this single hymn is repeated this most expressive figure, taken from the granite erags of Sinai, and carried thence, through psalms and hymns of all nations, like one of the huge fragments which it represents, to regions as remote in aspect as in distance, from its original birthplace. Stanley. Up to this time the figure had not been applied to God. The Israelites have, indeed, from the hard and flinty rock, had refreshing streams; the rock was to them a fountain of waters; and doubtless when here the figure is for the first time applied to God, they would find it delightful to associate refreshment and shelter with him. Then in course of time it became a favorite figure, as the Psalms in many passages show. Elgar—The resemblances between Ps. 90 and De. 32 have been rightly regarded as important, especially the expression "the Rock." The manner and turn of thought of the psalm are certainly also similar to those of the song. Bleek, remarking on the superscription of the psalm, which calls it "A Prayer of Moses," says: "There is no authentic reason for denying to the Lawgiver the authorship of this psalm, and at all events it bears the stamp of very great antiquity." Ewald also grants the last part of this statement. Espin. God is the rock, for he is in himself immutable and immovable, and he is to all that seek him and fly to him an impenetrable shelter, and to all that trust in him an everlasting foundation. H.—The image is not an arbitrary one. Nature abounds in shadows of the spiritual. It is what the mind puts into the objects of its survey which makes them what they are. "The Alps and Andes are but millions of atoms till thought combines them and stamps on them the conception of the everlasting hills. Niagara is a gush of water drops till the soul puts into it that sweep of resistless power which the beholder feels. The ocean, wave behind wave, is only great when the spirit has breathed into it the idea of immensity. If we analyze our feelings, we shall find that thought meets us wherever we turn. The real grandeur of the world is in the soul which looks on it, which sees some conception of its own reflected from the mirror around it; for mind is not only living, but life-giving, and has received from its Maker a portion of his own creative power" (John Ker). Rock is thus more than rock—its awfulness, grandeur, immovability, everlastingness, strength, are born of spiritual conceptions. Orr. A God of faithfulness, and without iniquity: just and right is he! The changes of time and creatures are but the trifling waves which keep up their noisy flow at the base of this Eternal Rock. He was infinitely true to himself before time began; such will he be when time shall be no more. Every one of those adorable perfections remains in plenitude of majesty, and all in blissful concord with each other. "Just and right is he!" He cannot deny himself. Be this our anchor, when in regard to our own little personal affairs, the billows threaten to overwhelm us. They cannot reach the throne of our God, nor change the settled purposes of his love. Clouds and darkness are round about him, but righteousness and justice are the habitation of his throne. If we could look into his heart, we should discern paternal compassion behind the lifted rod. Let us rejoice that he is, and such as he is. Let us glory that he changeth not. Let us summon our thoughts away from all creatures and all second causes, to dwell on the throne that cannot be moved. Though all else fail, it is well with us if God remains. See to it that he is yours. Hazard not the consequences of being found in the way of his advancing vengeance. His covenant of grace is sure, but his justice is as irrevocable as his love is fathomless. Now, in this temporal state, the offer is made, to change our relation, and from enemies to become friends. But presently a trumpet shall sound, to tell that parley is over, and that what remains is arrest, adjudication, doom! J. W. A. 6,7. To bring more forcibly to their view the ingratitude and folly of their conduct, Moses dwells upon what God was and had been to the nation: their Father, in that he had, in his love, chosen them to be his people (cf. Is. 63:16; 64:7; Mal. 2:10); their Purchaser, who had acquired possession of them by delivering them out of Egypt (cf. Ps. 74:2); their Maker, who had constituted them a nation; and their Establisher, by whom they had been conducted through the wilderness and settled in Canaan. W. L. A. In this first section of the Divine song, the predominating idea is God's fatherhood. It comes out in verse 6 in express terms; it is implied in the care that is attributed to him for his children of Israel; it passes into the still tenderer idea of motherhood in the illustration of the eagle (verse 11); and may fairly be taken as the idea dominating the whole. It has been thought that the fatherhood of God is almost altogether a New Testament idea; but we have it here expressly stated, and it underlies many portions of the Old Testament. This whole song is, in fact, a paternal expostulation with children that have been wayward in the wilderness, and will be more wayward still in the land of promise. Edgar. 7. Is not the God whom ye have forsaken the very same who hath bought thee from bondage; redeemed thee for himself; made thee a prosperous and happy nation, and established thee in permanent strength? Go back over the grand ages of your national history; ask the fathers for their testimony to the great works of your God in your behalf. H. C.—Remember the days of old—that is, "Keep in remembrance the history of those days, and of the wonderful providences of God concerning the old word, and concerning your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; you will find a constant series of mercies attending them, and how long since things were working toward that which is now come to pass." H. 8-14. What Israel owes to God. Here the great things which God had done for them are brought out in a few bold delineations, mingling strength and pathos in a marvellous degree. He shows how from the beginning God had set his regardful eyes upon them, how he had guided the history of all other nations in a manner subservient to their welfare, making them and their development the historic centre of the ancient world; how he had found them poor, helpless wanderers in the wilderness, had formed them into a people there—his own people, whom he had fed and led and trained as a tender mother might—and at last brought into the goodly land he had promised them, exalting them high among the nations of the earth, and giving them all things richly to enjoy. J. M. G. 8. 9. Once admit the goal of history to be the establishment on earth of a universal spiritual kingdom—a gathering together in one of all things with Christ as head (Eph. 1 : 10), and it is certain that herein must lie the key to all historical developments, the explanation of all arrangements and movements of Divine providence. The centre of interest must always be that portion of the race with which for the time being the kingdom of God is identified. Orr.—Just as, in tracing the course of a stream, not the huge morasses nor the vast stagnant pools on either side would delay us : we should not, because of their extent, count them the river, but recognize that as such, though it were the slenderest thread, in which an onward movement might be discerned; so is it here. Egypt and Assyria and Babylon were but the vast stagnant morasses on either side of the river ; the man in whose seed the whole earth should be blessed, he and his family were the little stream in which the life and onward movement of the world were to be traced. They belong not to history, least of all to sacred history, those Babels, those cities of confusion, those huge pens into which by force and fraud the early hunters of men, the Nimrods and Sesostrises, drove and compelled their fellows, where no faith existed but in the blind powers of nature and the brute forces of the natural man. Trench. 10. He found him in a desert land.** This refers to the wilderness through which God brought them to Canaan, and in which he took so much pains with them ; it is called the church in the wilderness (Acts 7 : 38). There it was born, and nursed, and educated, that all might appear to be Divine and from heaven, since they had there no communication with any part of this earth, either for food or learning. H. 11. As an eagle, etc.** This admirable similitude, so sublimely beautiful and yet so simple and natural, of the parent eagle training her young nestlings to fly ; first, “stirring them up,” or rousing them from the nest ; then “hovering about them,” to watch and encourage their timid efforts ; “spreading abroad her wings,” to receive them when drooping ; “taking them up, carrying them, to ease them when wearied and exhausted by unusual efforts : is probably painted from the life, with so much circumstantial imagery, from the scenes which Moses might often have witnessed in the deserts of Arabia Petrea. God himself had been pleased to employ this comparison, “I bare you on eagles’ wings.” Hales.—Two different acts of the eagle are described : in the first two sentences, her warming, nourishing, and protecting care, when she spreads her wings over the nest ; in the last two, her care when she takes the young abroad, teaches them to fly, and guards them against every mischance. The first part of the figure refers to the protection of the still weak, helpless people which was afforded to it by the cloudy pillar, which covered and guided it ; the second part, to the awakening and strengthening of the people in the wilderness, until it attained some degree of self-reliance and dependence on God’s care amid the dangers and privations of the desert. That “he alone” (verse 12) did it, was meant to remind the unthankful people that God’s help had always been found all-sufficient, and every trial of the strange help of self-made gods always fraught with mischief. The angel who went before them was God himself. Gerl. The song introduces the figure of the eagle, and the motherly discipline to which she subjects her brood. “Naturalists tell us that when her young are old enough to fly, the eagle breaks her nest in pieces, in order to compel them to use their powers of flight ; fluttering over them, that by imitation they may learn how to employ their wings, but, when unwilling to fly, spreading abroad her wings, she bears them upward in the air, and then shaking them off, compels them to use their own exertions.” From this Mr. Hull deduces the truth that “the Divine discipline of life is designed to awaken man to the development of his own powers.” We see thus the kindness of the parental discipline, and that it takes motherhood as well as fatherhood to illustrate the Divine relation (cf. Is. 49 : 15). Elgar.—I once saw a very interesting sight above one of the crags of Ben Nevis, as I was going in pursuit of black game. Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring, two young birds, the manoeuvres of flight. They began by rising from the top of a mountain, in the eye of the sun—it was about midday, and bright for this climate. They at first made small circles, and the young imitated them ; they paused on their wings, waiting till they had made their first flight, holding them on their expanded wings when they appeared exhausted, and then took a second and larger gyration, always rising toward the sun, and enlarging their circle of flight, so as to make a gradually ascending spiral. Davy. 12. The Lord alone, he and none other, did lead Israel. There was no strange god there. In all his wilderness training of forty most eventful years, that tender youth-time of Israel, there was not the least help from Baal or Ash-toreth. But the hand of his own God was everywhere; in his daily bread; in his rock-gushing waters; in his pillar of cloud and of fire; in his victories over Amalek, Arad, and Midian. H. C. 15. The sudden and frequent change of persons in this ode is remarkable. Moses celebrates the truth and justice of God, then inveighs against the perfidy and wickedness of the people. He first speaks of them as if they were absent, "They have corrupted themselves." Then he addresses them: "Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise?" Afterward he beautifully amplifies God's indulgence and more than fatherly affection toward the Israelites, in words not directed to them: whence, again filled with indignation at the stupidity of this ungrateful and impious people, he thus breaks forth: "But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him" (verse 15). In this short sentence, the discourse being abruptly turned to the Israelites and then immediately from them, has great force. It is fervid, vehement, pointed, and full of indignation. The Hebrew poetry abounds with instances of this sudden change of persons, which often adds great beauty, and is always to be carefully observed. Bp. Lowth. Jeshurun. This name designates Israel as chosen to be a righteous nation; and in the use of it here lies the keenest reproach of apostate Israel, as fallen into a state the opposite of that to which it was destined. "By using the name righteous in place of Israel, Moses ironically censures those who had swerved from rectitude; by recalling to memory with what dignity they had been endowed, he the more sharply rebukes the perfidy which was their crime" (Calv.). This name appears also in ch. 33:5, 26, and in Is. 44:2; but in these places without any implied censure. W. L. A. 15-18. Jeshurun comes from a word that signifies upright; and it is evidently put for Israel, who were under great obligations to be upright; but instead of that, in their prosperity they rebelled against God, as a pampered horse kicks. Bp. Kidder.—Here is the sad moral result of being over-fed, over-tempted. "Jeshurun," the upright one, had bound himself by covenant to walk uprightly with God. The Hebrews constantly associate fatness with moral obtuseness, insensibility, and consequent obliquity. The ceremonial distinctions of things clean and unclean assumed this—swine being utterly unclean, and the fatty portions of sacrificed animals being accounted good only for burning on the altar. Hence the figure—Jeshurun, too fat for self-control and self-denial; too fat for the worship of the pure and holy One; and consequently he forsook the God who made and blessed him. The verb for "lightly esteemed" means to regard as dried up; withered; of faded beauty. So Israel thought of their God though he had been to them the rock of their salvation. The sad fact of their fall into idol-worship is reiterated and made impressively emphatic. They provoked God to jealousy; for how could he be otherwise than jealous when they cast him off and gave their hearts' homage to devils; to new gods, unknown to their fathers; gods that were no gods at all! The Hebrew word here for "devils" means primarily lords—mighty ones. The Septuagint and Vulgate give it demons—true to the ultimate idea, for all idol-worship is equivalent to the worship of the devil, being real obedience to his will. The blackness of this guilt lies in its forgetting, disowning God, our great Benefactor; our only real Friend. H. C. Here is a picture of spiritual degeneration in the midst of worldly prosperity. Prosperity generates wilfulness, and a resistance to the Divine claims. The restraints of duty, conscience, God, will be irksome, and will provoke to resistance. The irritation which was at first felt will subside, and insensibility will steal over the soul. Stubborn obstinacy without the former stings of conscience. "Past feeling." There sets in a thinking lightly of God altogether, and a forsaking of him. To this succeeds not only neglect of God, but the substitution of other gods (verses 16, 17)! The heart of man must have a supreme object of love; and if God be not enthroned in the heart, some rival will be seated there. To sum up. Worldly prosperity, if not sanctified to God and by him will engender, first resistance, then deadness, then estrangement, then idolatry! This is the sure and certain effect of an accumulation of worldly good, when its possessor is not led by Divine grace to use it wisely. C. C. 19-25. The fourth part, to the end of the twenty-fifth verse, expresses the indignation of the Lord, and his denunciations that he would reject apostate Israel, and adopt in their room the believing Gentiles; according to the interpretation of Paul (Rom. 10:19), citing verse 21 and the parallel prophecy of Is. 65:1, 2. This part describes also, in the glowing colors of the preceding prophecies, all the calamities of the Babylonian and Roman captivities. Hales. 19. The provocation of his sons, and of his daughters. For such they were till they corrupted themselves, and thereby highly incensed him against them. For nothing can be so provoking as the rebellion of children against a most indulgent parent. Bp. Patrick.—The “daughters” are here expressly named, because the women were notoriously guilty of provoking God by their idolatry. (See Jer. 7:18; 44:15; Ezek. 8:14.) Bp. Kidder. 21. The epithets “not a people,” and “foolish nation,” represent very faithfully the estimation in which the Jews held all others than themselves. When therefore Paul asserts that Israel in this passage had forewarning of the call of the Gentiles, he is assuredly only declaring its real import. God announces his resolve to repay the faithlessness of the Jews by withdrawing their privileges, and conferring them on those whom the Jews despised. The ultimate result, that by the call of the Gentiles Israel should be provoked to emulation and so eventually be saved also, is not here brought forward. It lies among those mysteries of the distant future which the Gospel was to bring to light. Espin. 22. (Cf. Jer. 15:14; 17:4; Lam. 4:11.) The lowest hell; the lowest sheol, the uttermost depth of the under-world. The Hebrew sheol (שָׁמַיִם) answering to the Greek φάος, by which it is usually rendered by the LXX., is a general designation of the unseen state, the place of the dead. Probably it is from a root signifying to excavate, to hollow, and, like the German hölle, means primarily a hollow place or cavern. The Divine wrath kindles a consuming fire, that burns down to the lowest depths—to the deepest part of sheol—consumes the earth’s produce, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. This does not refer to any particular judgment that was to befall the national Israel, but is a general description of the effects of the Divine wrath when that is poured forth in judgments on men. W. L. A. He compares his anger to a burning fire, which should penetrate to the deepest abysses, and should utterly consume their land so as not to spare the very roots of the mountains. This metaphor is of frequent occurrence; but here more is expressed by it than in other passages, since, when his implacable anger is once aroused, there are no bounds to his severity. Calv.—So the Gospel preached by Jesus is no monotone of “love,” “love!” It is a many-voiced strain to fill the mighty compass of that great organ, the human soul; to sweep its infinite diapason, and awaken, alike, the deep thunder tones of an accusing conscience; the loud wails of penitential sorrow; the subdued tones of loving but trembling taith; and the lofty notes of the holy ecstasy of “joy unspeakable and full of glory!” It is the same Jesus Christ who wept over sinners that proclaims “the terrors of the Lord” and flings “the arrows of the Almighty.” S. R. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ This brief final charge of Moses, spoken after his song and before his blessing, is placed here because of its fitness as a repetition and completion of the truths here considered. B. 46. Set your heart unto all the words: ye shall command your children to observe to do all the words of this law. Parallel expressions above: Verse 29, "That we may do all the words of this law," Verse 14, "The word is nigh thee, that thou mayest do it." These words state plainly The Practical Purpose and the Right Use of the Divine Revelation. The first fundamental requisite for the proper and effective use of the Word of God is the setting of mind and heart upon its study and apprehension, in order to the deep and permanent lodgment of its forceful and quickening truths in the thoughtful spiritual nature. Then will follow the second and ultimate purpose and use of the word; the desire and endeavor to obey its requirements, "to do all the words of this law." The leading utterance of the Old Testament and the New is one: KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS! The one purpose for which the Old and New Testament are given, for which all "the things revealed" alike in both are disclosed from heaven, is to invite and prompt and help us to this obedience. By our obedience, then, by our reverent believing reception of the Divine commands, by our grateful trust in the Divine promises, by a hearty surrender of will and consecration of life to do the will of God, and by these only may we (and "our children forever") wisely, rightly, and savingly use the priceless treasure of Divine revelation. B. The Sublime and Blessed Result of a Believing, Obedient Reception of the Revealed Word (verse 47). For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life. Life is more than the sum of personal enjoyments and pains through which it finds expression; more than the length of days in which it is visible to human eyes; more than the fulness of means which reveals to us its power. All these pass away, but in the process of their vanishing a spiritual result has been fulfilled. The soul of the man has been brought into fellowship—a fellowship welcomed or disregarded—with men and with the world and with God. It has consciously or unconsciously learnt much and done much. It has shaped a character for itself; it has helped to shape a character for others. It is at the end—most solemn thought!—as it has been used. Life, then, we can see, consists not in abundance, in the overflowing richness of unemployed resources; it springs not spontaneously from the things which we possess, from our original endowments, as the necessary product of natural gifts. It is the opportunity of the individual to win for God, by God's help, that which lies within his reach; to accomplish on a scale little or great the destiny of humanity as it has been committed to him; to consecrate, it may be, splendid wealth to common service; to transfigure sordid cares by a Divine vision; to rise to the truth of the incarnation as the revelation of the purpose of the Father for the world which he made. Westcott. The doing or not doing of God's will, the obeying or not obeying of God's Word, is a matter of life and death to us. This is the simple, solemn, uniform testimony of Scripture from its first page to its last. The Gospel, with its revelation of "life and immortality," only heightens the solemnity of the alternative. Instead of bare "life," it is now "eternal life" which is proposed for our acceptance, and which is lost or forfeited by sin. If "life" is the promise, the counter-alternative is death, and "death" accordingly is denounced against the sinner in Gospel as in Law. Death is the loss of all that makes existence a boon; the extinction in the soul of holiness, happiness, and love. Whatever the final state of the lost may be, whether one of active torment or not, it will be true death. The man loses his "soul"—his "life"—"himself." Oh, that men were wise, that they understood these things, and acted on their choice as wise men should! Orr. All that can give fullest value to this life and joy to the next depends on how we treat this message from God. "It is not a vain thing for you; it is your life." Apart from the acceptance of Jesus Christ by faith, and a life of loyalty to God, there is not a gleam of light or hope for the next life. If God did not allow his message through Moses to be slighted with impunity, certainly he will not suffer men to "trample under foot the Son of God," and then leave them unpunished! What dread, what awful possibilities as to the fate of immortal souls are trembling in the balance, while they refrain from "yielding themselves unto God"! How earnestly and frequently may we with reason reiterate the words, "It is your life"! All that ensures life here and hereafter being a blessing, depends on the way men treat Jesus Christ and his salvation. C. C. They will know most of the mystery who have done most of the Law. If we are waiting for the solution of the mystery before we begin obedience to the Law, the mystery will never be revealed to us other than in clouds and storms of judgment. We walk by faith, not by sight. Jesus said unto one of his disciples, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." This is the Christian's law of action. He acknowledges the mystery; he has no reply whatever to many an enigma; but he is sure that in doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, he is preparing himself for those great revelations which are promised to faith, obedience, and love. J. P. FOURTH ADDRESS CONCLUDED. GREAT PROMISES OF PARDON, RESTORATION, AND BLESSING UPON SUBSEQUENT REPENTANCE. LIFE AND DEATH, BLESSING AND CURSING, GOOD AND EVIL SOLEMNLY SET BEFORE ISRAEL AS THE FINAL WORD OF THIS ADDRESS. De. 32 48 AND the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: because ye trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. For thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither into the land which I give the children of Israel. De. 34 1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan; and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the hinder sea; and the South, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses the servant of the LORD 6 died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre 7 unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was 8 not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses were ended, 9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel heakened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded 10 Moses. And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD 11 knew face to face; in all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the 12 land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land; and in all the mighty hand, and in all the great terror, which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel. After many painful and perilous enterprises Moses hath brought his Israelites from Egypt, through the sea and wilderness, within the sight of their promised land; and now himself must take possession of that land whereof Canaan was but a type. When we have done that we came for it is time for us to be gone. This earth is only made for action, not for fruition. 49,50. Moses must go up to Mount Nebo, and die. The time, the place, and every circumstance of his dissolution is determined. That one dies in the field, another in his bed, another on the sea, one in a foreign nation, another in his own, is foredecreed in heaven. And though we hear it not vocally, yet God hath called every man by his name, and saith, "Die thou there." One man seems to die casually, another by an unexpected violence; both fall by a destiny, and all is set down to us by an eternal decree. He that brought us into the world will carry us out according to his own purposes. Moses must ascend up to the hill to die. He received his charge for Israel upon the hill of Sinai, and now he delivers up his charge on the hill of Nebo. Bp. H. Moses was the loneliest of men: lonely in his flight from Egypt—lonely while herding his flock in the wilderness—lonely throughout his long life of patient fidelity—lonely in his death and burial. Even while mingling with the multitudes of Israel, he remained secluded and alone. As the glory which shone on his face insulated him for a time from men, so did all his life his majestic nature. He was among men, but not of them. Gilfillan. The summons to that solitary mountain, every friend and companion left behind, alone with God in that awful solitude, all this is his and no other's. And yet look at it in another point of view, and what was it but the solitude of every death-bed? "We shall die alone;" these were the words of the great Pascal; and they are true of every man. We may live with others, but we must die by ourselves. Millions may have gone before us, and millions may follow after; but each one of us must gird himself for that tremendous journey alone; not Moses more lonely on the peak of Nebo; nor of all those weeping ones that stand around our couch, can one, even if he would, take a single step of that journey with us; alone, unless One be with us, a conqueror of Hades, a Prince of Life, who with his rod and staff can comfort those who pass even through the darkest valley of the shadow of death. Trench. Thou shalt be gathered unto thy people. This Divine assurance suggests one of the charms of heaven. Next to the ecstasy which God's presence shall inspire, is the rapture of reunion with departed friends. No question need distress us touching mutual recognition. Moses and Elijah were recognized as such when they came down in glorified state, and conversed with Jesus on the mount. Not a faculty shall be wanting there which we possessed here. "Then shall we know, even as also we are known." D. D. 51. Because ye trespassed against me.** Perhaps the life of no man in the Bible has the same rounded fulness as the life of Moses. It had so little of any flaw in the character, and it accomplished so much for the cause of God and man. But there was one part where the character broke down, and one at which the life fell short. On a great occasion his temper failed him, and human passion marred the tone of his mission. The penalty was that Moses did not enjoy what his heart was set upon—the view of the close of all his labors, and the entrance of his nation into the home God had chosen for them. It seems very hard that so great a punishment should follow a single offence, and yet it is not uncommon in the life of a good man to see one false step or one pause in self-control bring with it irreparable loss. Ker. Death, though it were to Moses an entrance into glory, yet was also a chastisement of his infidelity. How many noble proofs had he given of his courage and strength of faith! How many gracious services had he done to his Master! All our acts of obedience cannot bear out one sin against God. How vainly shall we hope to make amends to God for our former trespasses by our better behavior when Moses hath this one sin laid to his charge, after so many and worthy testimonies of his fidelity! When we have forgotten our sins, God remembers them; and although not in anger, yet he calls for payment. Alas, what shall become of them with whom God hath ten thousand times greater quarrels; who, among many millions of sins, have scattered some few acts of formal services! If Moses must die the first death for one fault, how shall they escape the second for sinning always? Bp. H. In the sight of the people the leader and lawgiver of the nation was visited with a punishment, which must have convinced them far more strongly of the unsparing character of the judicial severity of God than the most powerful admonition could possibly have done; but, at the same time, "though punished, he received due honor in their sight," that they might see the sun of mercy bursting through the storm of the judgments of God. As an example of justice, Jehovah caused him to die before the people entered the land of rest and promise; but as an example of grace, he prepared for him an entrance into another, as yet unknown, land of promise and of rest. K.—A hundred words, presented in the form of law and calculated to impress them with a sense of God's unspotted holiness, cannot exert so great an influence upon their minds as this one fact, that even Moses for his sins must die, no less than Korah or Dathan, outside of Canaan. And what a cause of shame to those who had made Moses sin, and thus to forfeit in one fatal hour the fruit which he had earned so well through years of toil! And what a warning, too! Van O. Chapter 34. As ch. 31 contains the conclusion of the work, where Moses designates himself as the author of the preceding matter, as well as of the song (ch. 32), to which belongs also the blessing of ch. 33, and thus the whole, as far as ch. 33 is represented as complete in itself, it follows that ch. 34 is a distinct section, plainly separated from the foregoing. Besides, this section is so closely connected with Joshua, ch. 1, as to give force to the opinion that De. 34 does not properly belong to the Pentateuch, and that it should be regarded as being the transition to the Book of Joshua, written by one and the same author. Chapter 34 should accordingly be viewed as an appendix to Deuteronomy. Havernick.—The account of the death and burial of Moses, and other particulars described in this chapter, may have been inserted by Joshua, to complete the history of this illustrious prophet; or were afterward added by Samuel, or some prophet who succeeded him. They were admitted by Ezra as authentic, and we have no reason to question the fidelity of the account. Dr. Gray.—This closing section of the book (34), by some other sympathetic hand, that tells how Moses died and was buried according to the Word of the Lord, and how the people mourned for him, and what they thought of him, forms a conclusion for the whole that is as fitting as it is moving and beautiful. E. C. B. Ascent to Pisgah, and the Vision Thence (verses 1-4). 1. And Moses went up to the top of Pisgah.** Moses went up alone to the top of Pisgah, alone without help; a sign that his natural force was not abated; alone without company; when he had made an end of blessing Israel, he solemnly took leave of Joshua and Eleazar and the rest of his friends, who probably brought him to the foot of the hill, but then he gave them such a charge as Abraham gave to his servants, at the foot of another hill; Turry ye here while I go yonder and die: they must not see him die, because they must not know of his sepulchre. H. Its Location. After testing repeatedly every view in the neighborhood, I am perfectly satisfied that there is none which equals in extent that from Nebo—i.e., from the flat ridge which rises slightly about half a mile behind the ruined city (Nebbeh), and which I take to be the true "field of Zophim, the top of Pisgah." The altitude of this brow cannot be less than four thousand feet above the Ghor, so completely does it overlook the heights of Hebron and of Central Judea. On these brows overlooking the mouth of the Jordan, over against Jericho, every condition is met both for the Pisgah of Balaam and of Moses. H. B. T. The admirable fitness of such a position, for the purpose had in view, is evident to the modern traveller, from the fact that, wherever he goes, in central and southern Palestine, the mountains of Moab are constantly rising on his sight, as one of the most prominent features in the landscape. N. C. B. 2,3. Thus minutely does the supplement to the Book of Deuteronomy describe the scene which lay open before Moses, when he was alone with God upon the sacred mountain of the Moabites; embracing the four great masses of the inheritance on the east, the north, the centre, and the south, with the plain that lay at his feet. P. S.—By anticipation the terms of the description are taken from the time, then future, when the land should have been allotted to the several tribes of Israel. A glance at the map will show that this enumeration of districts and localities is no chance one, but entirely regular, and as an outline complete. The prophet stands facing the west; the plain of Jericho being directly in front, at his feet; the sea of Galilee, in the distance, at his right hand; the Dead Sea, near by, at his left. The entire central plateau of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Judah is within easy view before him, across the Jordan; while on the limits of vision, to the right lie snowy Hermon and Lebanon and the Galilean hills; and afar, to the left, the elevations which embosom Hebron—loftiest of the cities of Palestine—slope downward, and fade in the haze of the great southern deserts. The language indicates a view by the prophet, beginning at the north, and sweeping round westward to the south. First is “all the land of Gilead,” the country of “spicery and balm and myrrh,” eastward of the Jordan, to be inhabited by the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He looks in this direction “unto Dan,” the northernmost city of Palestine. Next, a little to the west of north, he beholds, in the distance, “all Naphtali,” rising from the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and spreading around the head-waters of the Jordan. Turning farther westward, he sees the broad region of the favored son of Joseph, “the land of Ephraim,” with the territory of the other half-tribe of “Manasseh,” lying nearly in line beyond it. Next, his eye, glancing southward, and not pausing upon little Benjamin, beholds great “Judah,” extending by promise to the shore of the Mediterranean, and to the limits of the southern deserts—“unto the utmost sea and the south.” And last is the view directly beneath of “the plain of the valley of Jericho.” N. C. B. As the eye turns southward the peak of Jebel Shihan first stands out behind Jebel Attarus. Beyond and behind these sharply rise mounts Hor and Seir, and the red granite peaks of Arabia. Still turning westward, the landscape sinks in two or three lines of gigantic terraces as it descends to the Dead Sea, which lies beneath, like a strip of molten metal. Far beyond it the ridge of Hebron can be traced. Northward lies the deep bed of the river Jordan, with the site of Israel’s last camp. Beyond the river rises the top of Gerizim, and, farther still, the plain of Esdraelon opens, and the shoulder of Carmel, or some other intervening height, shows to the right of Gerizim. Northward again the eye catches the outline of Tabor and Gilboa. Snowy Hermon, mantled with cloud, and the highest range of Lebanon behind it, looks down over all; and to the north-east the vast Hauran stretches out till it joins the uplands of Moab and Ammon. Tristram, Beneath him lay the tents of Israel; and “over against” them, distinctly visible in its grove of palm trees, the stately Jericho, key of the land of promise. Beyond was spread out the whole range of the mountains of Palestine, in its fourfold masses; “all Gilead,” with Hermon and Lebanon in the east and north; the hills of Galilee, overhanging the lake of Gennesareth; the wide opening where lay the plain of Esdraelon, the future battle-field of the nations; the rounded summits of Ebal and Gerizim; immediately in front of him the hills of Judea, and, amid them, seen distinctly through the rents in their rocky walls, Bethlehem on its narrow ridge, and the invincible fortress of Jebus. To him, so far as we know, the charm of that view—pronounced by the few modern travellers who have seen it to be unequalled of its kind—lay in the assurance that this was the land promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to their seed, the inheritance—with all its varied features of rock and pasture, and forest and desert—for the sake of which he had borne so many years of toil and danger, in the midst of which the fortunes of his people would be unfolded worthily of that great beginning. To us, as we place ourselves by his side, the view swells into colossal proportions, as we think how the proud city of palm-trees is to fall before the hosts of Israel; how the spear of Joshua is to be planted on height after height of those hostile mountains; what series of events, wonderful beyond any that had been witnessed in Egypt or in Sinai, would in afterages be enacted on the narrow crest of Bethlehem, in the deep basin of the Galilean lake, beneath the walls of “Jebus, which is Jerusalem.” Stanley. That Moses’s view of the promised land from the heights of Nebo was a view with the bodily and not with the inward eye, that he saw it in a state of perfect consciousness, and not in an ecstatic vision, is evident from the circumstances, as well as from the expression. There is not a word about ecstasy here. The antithesis contained in the announcement, that he should not tread with his feet the land of promise, but should see it with his eyes, compels us to think of the bodily eye. We have only to read the words of Jehovah in ch. 34 : 4, "I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither," and the statement, which follows almost directly afterward, that though Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eye was not dim. At the same time, the distinct and emphatic account of what he saw (verses 1-3), and the expression, "Jehovah showed him the land," force us to the conclusion, that his natural power of vision was in some way or other miraculously increased. The very unnecessary question—Where did the author of De. 34 learn all this?—may be very simply answered. He was acquainted with the commands and promises of Jehovah in Nu. 27 : 12, 13 and De. 32 : 49 sqq., and the Spirit of God, under whose teaching the whole was written, assured him that the announcements contained in these words were actually fulfilled. K. 4. From Nebo he looked down on the palm-trees of Jericho, close under his feet, and from the deep warm valley through which the Jordan was gleaming far across to yon boundless sea; from Jezreel, with its waving corn, to Eshool, with its luxuriant vines; from Bashan, with its kine, to Carmel, with its rocks dropping honey; from Lebanon, with its rampart of snow, south again to the dim edge of the desert: and as he feasted his eyes on what had so long been the land very far off; as the splendid domain spread out, hill and valley, field and forest, in the bright garb of spring, the Lord said, "This is the land!" "This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to thy seed." But beautiful and overwhelming as it was, just then there began to rise on Moses's sight a still more wondrous scene. It was no longer the Jordan, with its palms, but a river of water clear as crystal, and on either side of it a tree of life o'ercanopying. It was no longer Nebo's rocky summit, but a great white throne, and round it light inaccessible. He is in a better land than the land of promise! Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see that sight. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit that better land. Hamilton. Enough, doubtless, of the full purpose of God toward his people, and toward the world, was revealed to the prophet, to remove all feeling of disappointment that he should not be permitted to cross the Jordan and set foot on the shore of Canaan. Enough was revealed to absorb what was merely personal into the Divine glory. Ay, and methinks that such a view of the glories of the heavenly Canaan was lifted upon the prospect of the earthly land of promise, that the meek though mighty saint of God, now ripe for the heavenly inheritance, was ready to forego the rest from wandering assured to his people in the land before them for "the rest which remaineth to the people of God." N. C. B. As he saw it, and understood, if not all, yet much of the significance of that land for all the after-history of mankind, how it should be indeed a holy land, for it should be once trodden by the feet of One, a prophet like unto him, and greater than him, for he should be Moses and Joshua in one, and far more than either, far more than both; as he saw this good land, may we not believe that he was comforted for all, felt that it was glory enough for a sinful man to have been used by God to bring his people thus far even to the verge and border of this land of inheritance? May we not be sure that with him was not merely a perfect acquiescence in the will of God, so that he accepted that will without murmuring or repining; but that he felt goodness and mercy to have followed him from the first to the last, and that no good thing had been withheld from him? and that so, looking in that supreme hour before and after, looking back to all the way by which the Lord had led him, and looking forward to a land of inheritance, fairer, richer, brighter even than that which he now saw, but must never tread, the weary, much-enduring man yielded his spirit to his God; God, as the Jewish rabbis assure us, drawing out that spirit with a kiss; they meaning by this to express their sense of the serene composure, the painless peace of his departure. Trench.—Who shall say what sweet communion passes between the servant and the Lord when not a word is spoken? There was but one speaker and one auditor. The auditor who had talked so much, with so noble a voice, with so positive and royal an eloquence, spoke nothing, but died in the embrace of his Lord. Who can say what the measure of that reward was? We cannot enter into these mysteries; we can be drawn upward by them, impelled in noble directions by their influence. J. P. 5. So Moses the servant of the Lord died there. 6. And He buried him. In silence and solitude, at the top of Pisgah, alone with God, the great lawgiver, prophet, leader, passed away—passed to the rest which he had so well earned, not smitten by any painful disease, nor worn out by gradual decay—but still in the full possession of his powers, still with none of his natural force abated, he sank to rest—he “was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). The soul fled; the body remained, and was buried in some strange and mysterious way—not by Eleazar, not by Joshua—in a ravine of the mountain; but exactly where no man knew. He had no funeral rites, no obsequies, no monument; and hence there could be no after-growth of loving pilgrimages, no superstitious reverence of a holy spot, no local commemorative ceremonies. The grave on Mount Nebo was, as is the grave of Golgotha, shrouded in thick darkness, to after-ages an unknown locality. G. R. How faithfully to men, and also how kindly, would all our work be done, if we had our account, not to them, but to God, ever in our eye! Moses ascends the mount to learn God’s will, and when he has finished his work he goes to him to die, and to find from him his sepulchre. He, whose servant he is, takes him back into his keeping, in the spirit of that grand old psalm which comes down to us as “the prayer of Moses the man of God” (Psalm 90)—“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.” Ker. God buried him. The penalty of Moses’s sin was fully paid by his death; and this signal honor conferred on him after death was, doubtless, designed to sustain the Lawgiver’s authority, which without it might have been impaired with the people in consequence of his punishment. No man knoweth of his sepulchre. Bearing in mind the appearance of Moses at the Transfiguration, and what is said by Jude (verse 9), we may conjecture that Moses after death passed into the same state with Enoch and Elijah; and that his sepulchre could not be found because he was shortly translated from it. Espin.—We gather from the New Testament that Michael, an high prince with God, angel-protector of the house of Israel, guarded the prophet’s body, and rebuked Satan, who resisted its resurrection. That it was raised is inferred, from the appearance of Moses in a glorified body with Elias, on the mount of our Lord’s transfiguration. D. F.—He whom God buried, according to all likelihood did not see corruption, and was probably raised from his grave as soon as laid there; only just tasting the penalty of death, and then that penalty removed; as would all seem indicated and implied by the apparition of Moses, with Elijah, in a glorified body upon the Mount of Transfiguration. Trench. His death was announced by the Lord himself to Joshua, “Moses my servant is dead” (Josh. 1:2). So that there was no human witness of his decease; the account of which was added from revelation. Hales.—He that took charge of his birth and preservation in the reeds takes charge of his carriage out of the world: the care of God ceaseth not over his own, either in death or after it. How justly do we take care of the comely burials of our friends, when God himself gives us this example! If the ministry of man had been used in this grave of Moses, the place might have been known to the Israelites; but God purposely conceals this treasure, both from men and devils, that so he might both cross their curiosity, and prevent their superstition. If God had loved the adoration of his servants’ relics, he could never have had a fitter opportunity for this devotion than in the body of Moses. It is folly to place religion in those things which God hides on purpose from us; it is not the property of the Almighty to restrain us from good. Bp. H. “The Lord buried him.” There is a higher honor conferred on him than if all Israel had met to weep and lament, or the world assembled to his obsequies. God takes away the grave of Moses, that they may have before them, in full and undisturbed relief, the man himself. His words living and dying, his walk with God till God took him, all that he was to God and to them, in self-devotion and affection—these survive him and can never die. If they came to his grave, they approached the creature and its fleeting part; but in coming to his words and his life, they come to Moses himself and to God. And may we not see a similar lesson in this that the sepulchre of the greater prophet than Moses is equally unknown, and may we not wonder that Christians, under a system of spirit and life, have been more slow than Jews to learn the lesson? Once, and once only, were men invited “to see the place where the Lord lay,” that they might be assured it was empty, and refrain any more from seeking the living among the dead. If research the most patient has hitherto done aught, it has been to show that the spot has left no trace upon our earth. God has made the march of armies and the desolation of centuries do for the sepulchre of Christ what his own hand did for the grave of Moses. He could scarcely have condemned more strikingly, in history, that idolatry of place and form which has usurped so long the worship of the spirit. The Christian Church, no less than the Jewish, is taught to look to the life and doctrine of its great Lawgiver with this distinction, that we know most surely where he is, to draw souls to himself, and whence he shall come "to change these vile bodies, and fashion them like unto his own glorious body." Ker. Nebo, too, proclaims that the existence of God's servants does not terminate, but still goes on—nay, properly begins only at death; and the whole history of those who fall asleep in Christ admits of being summarized in these five words, "for all live unto God." Moses and Aaron—they and such as they still live! The Joshua and Davids—they still live! The Daniels and Isaiahs—they still live! Your godly friends that fell asleep, some early and some late—they are not dead, but they still live! He who gave Moses burial shall one day bring again with him, in glory, all those who have fallen asleep in Jesus Christ. Then shall they all be perfected—those who have been redeemed in early and in later days of grace—when Christ, who is their life, has been revealed. Van O.—"The dead" and "the living" are not names of two classes which exclude each other. Much rather, there are none who are dead. The dead are the living who have died. While they were dying they lived, and after they were dead they lived more fully. All live unto God, "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Oh, how solemnly sometimes that thought comes up before us, that all those past generations which have stormed across this earth of ours, and then have fallen into still forgetfulness, live yet. Somewhere at this very instant they now verily are! We say, they were, they have been. There are no have been! Life is life forever. To be is eternal being. Every man that has died is at this instant in the full possession of all his faculties, in the intensest exercise of all his capacities, standing somewhere in God's great universe, ringed with the sense of God's presence, and feeling in every fibre of his being that life, which comes after death, is not less real, but more real, not less great, but more great, not less full or intense, but more full and intense, than the mingled life which, lived here on earth, was a centre of life surrounded with a crust and circumference of mortality. The dead are the living. They lived while they died; and after they die, they live on forever! A. M. 8. Moses's memory is carried with the Israelites, as something sacred, from the wilderness into the promised land, now opened for their entering. His mighty spirit animates the words and deeds of Joshua; and when the latter, in his turn, forsakes the great arena here below, it is not till the people have anew been bound, by the most sacred oaths, to the observance of the whole Mosaic Law. And soon his image is found hovering before the minds of all those judges, kings, and prophets who were faithful to the Lord; the book of Moses's Law remains the basis of religious teaching and the record of God's ancient revelation throughout many ages afterward. Of all the seers who come treading in his footprints, which are ineffaceable, there is no single one in Israel that reaches such a height; of all the legislators who are still the pride of ancient heathendom, there is no single one that can compare with him. Where are they all—the Dracos, Numas, Solons, and Lycurguses, and all those who succeeded them? Their work has perished with them; that of Moses is as permanent as Israel—eternal as the God of Israel himself. To the whole of Christendom on earth, his word comes as a message sent from God; the history he writes is like a mine of gold; his life and death become a revelation of God's glory; and in heaven the songs of Moses and the Lamb still mingle on the lips of the redeemed. Van O. 9. And Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. Although dead, Moses still ruled. His spirit reappeared in his successor. The principles of Moses had been planted in the nature of Joshua: these had flourished and come to maturity. The memory of Moses was still a mighty power in Israel, and they "did," all though the days of Joshua, "as the Lord commanded Moses." The legislator had moulded and trained the warrior. Moses was promoted to higher honor, because Joshua was better qualified for this new work—the realization of Israel's destiny. D. D. Moses brought Israel to the borders of Canaan and then died and left them, to signify that the Law made nothing perfect (Heb. 7:19). It brings men into a wilderness of conviction, but not into the Canaan of rest and settled peace. It is an honor reserved for Joshua (our Lord Jesus, of whom Joshua was a type) to do that for us which the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh (Rom. 8:3). Through him we enter into rest; the spiritual rest of conscience and eternal rest in heaven. H. It was essential to the typical meaning and purpose of this history that Moses should not cross the river, for he was the representative man of the Law, and the Law brings no one into rest. For himself, too, it was better to depart. He got something nobler far than an entrance into Canaan—a home with God and the departed worthies. Yet there is something very touching in his death, on the very edge of the promised land. An end like his has been not infrequent among great leaders of intellectual or religious life. They labor and see not, or, if they foresee, enjoy not the fruit of their labors. A hero falls in the very arms of victory, a scientific genius surrenders to others the advantage of his discoveries, reformers and missionaries of truth and progress often die on the threshold of success, leaving it to others to accomplish what they could not continue, "by reason of death." A striking precedent there is in the death of Moses, the man of God. A lesson, too, of submission and contentment. D. F. # Divine Encomium of Moses (verses 10-12). God buried Moses. It was fitting, therefore, that he too should write his epitaph. Here it is, given by his inspiration, and, though written only in a book, having a permanence as great as if it had been graven with an iron pen in the rock forever. "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel." W. M. T. 10. There hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel.** Words like these can only have been written some time, but not necessarily a long time, after the death of Moses. They refer more particularly to the wonders wrought by the hand of Moses at the exodus and in the desert; and do but re-echo the declaration of God himself (Nu. 12:6). Espin.—This eulogy seems to have been added that the children of Abraham might place dependence on Moses until the manifestation of Christ; for although prophets were from time to time raised up, the superiority should remain with Moses, lest they decline from the rule of the Law. Two signs of his excellency are here recorded, his familiar acquaintance with God and the glory of his miracles. Calv.—Moses was the founder and mediator of the Old Covenant. As long as this covenant was to last, no prophet could arise in Israel like unto Moses. There is but One who is worthy of greater honor than Moses—namely, the Apostle and High-Priest of our profession, who is placed as a Son over all the house of God, in which Moses was found faithful as a servant (compare Heb. 3:2-6 with Nu. 12:7), Jesus Christ, the Founder and Mediator of the new and everlasting covenant. Keil. # Whom the Lord knew face to face. Others saw visions and dreamed dreams; he spoke face to face with God and was deemed worthy of honors never claimed for an Amos or an Isaiah. Somebody adds here, "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses." On its face it is a later addition, like the rest of the chapter. But it is the "amen" that confirms the letter of the history or the self-praise that seals the counterfeit. E. C. B. Moses was the first to disclose the glorious nature of God and his gracious relationships to our race, as the corner-stone of a great commonwealth. He was the first to proclaim, by his sacrificial institutes and teachings, the one principle that "without shedding of blood is no remission." He was the first to proclaim the elementary principles and the true basis of the noblest human ethics: "Be ye holy: for I am holy." He was the first to require of a people love to God as the spring of all obedience, and to assign as the reason for their love the care of God to them. He was the first who made provision for the education of a whole people in the things of God; with virtue and piety for its lessons, and the home for its training-school. He was the first who aimed at educating a people to self-government. Others might follow on in all these respects, but no one else ever could be like Moses in starting all this new national life, thought, and virtue, in organized form. And yet how much more than one like Moses do we need for a world's regeneration and a Church's education! "If there had been a Law given which should have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law." But "what the Law could not do" God has done through our Lord Jesus Christ. Moses can give rules. Only the Lord the Spirit can give life. A Greater than Moses has come, and has created by his power a new commonwealth, whose citizenship is in the heavens. In this "new Jerusalem, which cometh down from God out of heaven," lo! "all things are made new." C. C. # His Influence upon Human History. Calm and colossal, not so much distinguished by his individual features as by the mighty deeds with which he is identified, stands out the figure of that Hebrew lawgiver; and betwixt the romantic incidents of his birth and upbringing, his unparalleled achievements as the conductor of a national exodus, and his exalted function as the founder of the Hebrew commonwealth and the father of a new dispensation, no mere man has exerted a larger or more enduring influence in human history. Hamilton.—Of all the great men who have played their part on the broad theatre of human action, Moses is the one who has exerted the most pregnant influence on the destinies of mankind and on the direction and progress of civilization. His lofty intellect, his greatness of soul, his pre-eminent virtue, and his unequalled services in the cause of true religion and of republican constitutional liberty, place him at the head of those illustrious benefactors of mankind who here and there, though at intervals too distant from each other, embellish the canvass of history. E. C. W.—Nor was his memory confined to the single people which under his auspices became a great nation. Manetho, the Egyptian, spoke of him as the founder of the Jewish polity and the author of the Jewish laws; the Greeks became acquainted with his name about the time of Herodotus, and unanimously attributed to him the peculiar customs which marked out from all others the Jewish people. Historians of Egypt with one voice proclaimed that it was he who led the Jews from Egypt to the Holy Land. From Greece his fame passed to Rome, where attention was first drawn to him by Cornelius Alexander in the time of Sulla, and where he soon became known as “the Jewish legislator,” and attracted the notice of Apollonius Niolo, Trogus Pompeius, Strabo, Thallus, the freedman of Tiberius, Tacitus, Juvenal, Longinus, and others. Longinus called him “no common man;” Numenius, the Pythagorean philosopher, said that he was “very powerful with God through prayer.” Hecataeus of Abdera praised his courage and practical wisdom. G. R. The Hebrew lawgiver, considered merely in an historical light and without reference to his Divine inspiration, has exercised a more extensive and permanent influence over the destinies of his own nation and mankind at large than any other individual recorded in the annals of the world. Christianity and Mohammedanism alike respect, and, in different degrees, derive their origin from the Mosaic institutes. Thus, throughout Europe, with all its American descendants, the larger part of Asia and the north of Africa, the opinions, the usages, the civil as well as religious ordinances, retain deep and indelible traces of their descent from the Hebrew polity. To his own nation Moses was chieftain, historian, poet, lawgiver. He was more than all these—he was the author of their civil existence. Other founders of republics and distinguished legislators have been, like Numa, already at the head of a settled and organized community; or have been voluntarily invested with legislatorial authority, like Charondas, Lycurgus, and Solon, by a people suffering the inconveniences of anarchy. Moses had first to form his people, and bestow on them a country of their own, before he could create his commonwealth. The Hebrews would either have been absorbed in the population of Egypt, or remained a wretched Pariah caste, had Moses never lived, or never received his Divine commission. In this condition he took them up, rescued them from captivity; finding them unfit for his purpose, he kept them for forty years under the severe discipline of the desert; then led them as conquerors to take permanent possession of a most fruitful region. Yet with singular disregard to his own fame, though with great advantage to his design, Moses uniformly referred to an earlier and more remote personage the dignity of parent of his people. The Jews were children of Abraham, not of Moses; they were a distinguished nation as descendants of the patriarch, not as compatriots of the lawgiver. The virtue of pure and disinterested patriotism never shone forth more unclouded. He nobly declined the offer made to him by the Almighty, to substitute his own family for the offending race of Israel. The permanent happiness of the whole people was the one great object to which the life of Moses was devoted; so that, if we could for an instant suspect that he made use of religion for a political purpose, still that purpose would entitle him to the highest rank among the benefactors of mankind, as having been the first who attempted to regulate society by an equal written law. If God was not the sovereign of the Jewish State, the Law was: the best and only safe vicegerent of Almighty Providence, to which the welfare of human communities can be intrusted. If the Hebrew commonwealth was not a theocracy, it was a nomocracy. On the other hand, if, as we suppose in the Mosaic polity, the civil was subordinate to the religious end, still the immediate well-being of the community was not sacrificed to the more remote object. Independent of the temporal blessings promised to the maintenance of the Law, the Hebrew commonwealth was so constituted as to produce (all circumstances of the times, the situation and character of the people considered) as much or more real happiness and independence than any existing or imaginary government of ancient times. Let Moses, as contrasted with human legislators, be judged according to his age; he will appear, not merely the first who founded a commonwealth on just principles, but a lawgiver who advanced political society to as high a degree of perfection as the state of civilization which his people had attained, or were capable of attaining, could possibly admit. But if such be the benign, the prematurely wise, and original character of the Mosaic institutions, the faith of the Jew and the Christian in the Divine commission of the great legislator is the more strongly established and confirmed. Milman. # Moral and Spiritual Points of Character. The noblest trait in his moral character was his patriotic disinterestedness. He twice refused the tempting offer of the aggrandizement of his own family, when God threatened to reject the Israelites for their rebellions, and make of him "a great nation" in their stead. And he left his sons, without rank or patrimony, as private Levites, to subsist on the national bounty, in common with their brethren! Hales. —On the conquest of Canaan, Joshua receives large landed estates, but for the sons of Moses there was nothing more than their share of the Levitical offerings. Even the headship of the tribe of Levi belonged to Aaron, the elder brother of Moses; and upon him and his descendants the high-priesthood was conferred. They did consequently hold a grand position; but as for Moses himself, in 1 Ch. 6, after he has been barely mentioned, his race drops entirely out of the genealogy, while the family of Aaron is carefully described. R. P. S. He had great privileges; but he had also great responsibilities and trying ordeals. Heaven honored his intercessions with signal deliverances; but heaven punished his sin with a visitation so severe that nothing could better serve to magnify the Law and make it honorable. The promised land he might not set his foot upon; and yet God comforted him and God buried him. A paradox truly, but only on the hypothesis of unreality. Without an army, without the restraints of established customs and regular occupations, by the sheer force of his goodness, his disinterestedness, his supreme patience, and the favor of God, he led, as a father, for forty years, the most intractable and obstinate of peoples. The intrigues of his own family neither disheartened nor angered him. Alive as few others to the demands of even-handed justice, having for his great task the training of a people in the arts of war as well as of peace in a rude age, it is still the law of love to God as a rule of conduct on which he everywhere chiefly insists. Five several times he returns to it (De. 6:4 f.; 10:12; 11:13; 30:6, 20) with emphatic reiteration. E. C. B. All the great men of sacred as well as of profane history possessed some prominent virtue or quality which stood out in bolder relief than their other perfections. We think of the faith of Abraham, of the conscientiousness of Joseph, of the contrition of David, of the generosity of Jonathan, of the zeal of Elijah—but what do we regard as the dominant quality of Moses? The mind is perplexed in the attempt to fix on any. It is not firmness, it is not perseverance, it is not disinterestedness, it is not patriotism, it is not confidence in God, it is not meekness, it is not humility, it is not forgetfulness of self. It is not any one of these. It is ALL of them. His virtues, his graces, were all equal to each other; and it was their beautifully harmonious operation and development which constituted his noble and all but perfect character. Kit. His faith is something marvellous, something almost without a parallel. It takes him to God at every moment; it sustains him under every trial and disappointment; in a lifetime of a hundred and twenty years it fails him perhaps three or four times, otherwise it is a constant support and stay. To the last he has the eternal God for his refuge, and feels underneath him the everlasting arms (De. 33:27). Not even Abraham, "the father of the faithful," is more a man of faith than he. G. R.—"He endured," says the inspired penman, "as seeing him who is invisible." He had a vivid and constant sense of the presence of God, and a correct estimate of the relative importance of things seen and temporal, as compared with those which are unseen and eternal. This kept him from contamination during his early education, and while yet he was in the palace of the Pharaohs; and when the day came when he must take the one side or the other in that conflict which has continued through all the ages, he did not hesitate or attempt to temporize, but "esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Never more alluring prospects opened up before any man than those which the world held out to him. The throne of the greatest monarchy of his age was within his reach. All that wealth could procure, or pleasure bestow, or the greatest earthly power command, was easily at his call. But the glory of these things paled in his view before the more excellent character of those invisible honors which God set before him; and so, without a sigh of regret or a thought of sacrifice, he turned his back upon a position which he could occupy only by proving false to his countrymen and disloyal to his Lord. This faith sustained him in the solitudes of Midian, and animated him amid all the conflict attendant on the Exodus, and all the difficulties that confronted him in the wilderness. From the moment when he heard the promise, "Certainly I will be with thee," on till the day when he set out for Pisgah, he was seldom visited with misgiving. His intercourse with God was of the closest and most confidential character. Jehovah, to him, was a living person, as real to him as was his brother Aaron, and more helpful to him than any human friend could be. This faith gave him courage in the hour of danger, and calmness in the time of trial. Whether he was called to go in before the angry Pharaoh, or to face the mutiny of the murmuring tribes, he was equally sustained by the sight of the invisible God; and when at length he passed in within the veil, he went only into a higher and closer fellowship with one whom he had long known and loved. W. M. T. While busy with codes and their proper distribution among the centuries, the critics have strangely overlooked the lawgiver himself, and have completely failed to account for the conception of such a character as that of Moses, and the unique portrayal of it in the Pentateuch. Perfect it is not, for then it would be other than human;—but from that first sweet picture of the little child nestling in its cradle of papyrus leaves, among the reeds of the Nile, to that last, solemn journey to the top of Nebo, to get one glimpse of the dear land which, because of sin, he might not set his foot upon—unique, and to the final stroke beyond the possible reach of invention. Conjured into the history he was not, and could not have been; and just as little can he be conjured out of it. But in it, and of it, then the miracle, if miracle it be, is God's, and cannot be overthrown. And with the overshadowing personality of a Moses, indisputably fixed in the age of Moses, you have not only a sure and steadfast anchor for the documents that bear his name, but also a sufficient pledge of their genuineness and order. The material universe during these cycles of time since the exodus has been slowly undergoing change. The "everlasting hills," of which the Psalmist speaks, have taken on other shapes, gradually yielding to the touch of time. But this sublime figure of the ancient books, and those first great truths he uttered so long ago, remain unchanged. Our critics may succeed in obscuring, for some and for a time, the image and its historic setting; but to efface or greatly alter it were impossible. Like the palimpsest of the Gospel, it may be written over and over with other thoughts. But there will also be happy discoverers in the good time to come. The human will fade out at last, and the Divine shine through. E. C. B. God's work-day is eternity. His plan runs from the beginning of days to the end of years. Every sigh and groan of anguish comes up into remembrance before him, and every oppression and cruelty survives for judgment. The burdens of humanity grow already lighter, not heavier. The justice of the Almighty is not foiled. The year of his redeemed shall come. There is a future, and it belongs to Christianity; and there waits the redressing of every wrong. It is an inspiring lesson of faith the Scriptures teach us, when they show us the old Jewish prophets and kings bending forward as if to catch some note of the Bethlehem welcome, waiting to see their Messiah's day, and yet dying in faith "without the sight." There are two vivid scenes in the life of the great Hebrew lawgiver, not often brought forward among the wonders of his mission, which are affecting disclosures of that indwelling faith, which was the hiding of all his power: one, where he stood on the top of the mountain, not afraid, with a tranquil expectation, amid thunders and lightnings, and clouds and darkness, waiting confidently for the Lord God to speak at the beginning of his great work; the other, when, at the end of his trials and his life, he went up to look off from the top of another mountain, over the Canaan he could not enter, and then walked firmly down, without murmuring, to die. To us the Lord God always speaks by his Son, if we will listen; and to us the whole future is a land of promise, and every hour an outlook from Nebo, if only we have that unshaken faith that is ready to wait or to work, and asks only to be led. F. D. H. Christianity has been advancing for centuries through martyrdoms and defections, and great stones rolled to its sepulchre, and prophecies of extinction. But still it lives and moves forward to the throne its Author and Lord has already reached. The corn of wheat which dies and rises to the harvest is its symbol, and we must take it for that of our personal life. If we wish present success we may go seek it elsewhere, but if we desire the strength and peace which make a man independent of everything but God, we must find these in God himself, and in making heart and life submissive to his will. In such a life failure is impossible unless God himself can fail and his moral universe prove itself a dream. Should he give us length of days in the world, as he did to Moses, and usefulness and honor, leaving but one break, as break there must be, at the close, let us take it thankfully; but if, as he appointed to his Son, he send us defeat and disappointment, and forms of death, all through, let us take it hopefully. There is full compensation for failure in every true life, and the highest where the struggle and the loss have been the deepest. Most comforting of all, there is reversal of the consequences of sin when, in humble contrition and faith, the heart has been put into the hand of the great Healer. The shadow on earth's dial-plate is turned back when eternal life is gained, and the sun shall go down no more. We shall be waked up from our grave, like Moses, to have our heart's desire, to look on the land and on him who is the glory in the midst of it; nay, better still, to share it with him, and to know that "if we suffer with Christ it is that we may be also glorified together." Ker. GENEALOGICAL OUTLINE OF THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, INCLUDING SUBDIVISIONS OF FAMILIES AND BRIEF NOTES RESPECTING PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS. NOTE.—These chapters, in great part, belong chronologically to the period of the history considered in this volume, and contain detailed information respecting the family and tribal connections of individuals named upon these pages. Obviously it is impracticable, with our limited space, to do more than note these points as a helpful reference to the student-reader.—B. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | XII. | 15-20 | 140 | XXII. | 16, 17 | 152 | XXIX. | 1-37 | 127 | | | 37-42 | 92 | | 18 | 153 | | 38-43 | 139 | | | 43-49 | 140 | | 19 | 152 | | 44-46 | 124 | | | 50, 51 | 92 | | 20 | 153 | XXX. | 1-10 | 122 | | XIII. | 1, 2 | 147 | | 21-27 | 159 | | 11-16 | 123 | | | 3, 4 | 92 | | 23 | 156 | | 17-21 | 124 | | | 5-10 | 140 | | 29, 30 | 147 | | 22-38 | 123 | | | 11-16 | 147 | | 31 | 148 | XXXI. | 1-11 | 120 | | | 17-22 | 93 | XXIII. | 1-3 | 156 | | 12-17 | 139 | | XIV. | 1-9 | 93 | | 4, 5 | 160 | | 18 | 116 | | | 10-31 | 94 | | 6-8 | 156 | XXXII. | 1-6 | 115 | | XV. | 1-21 | 95 | | 9 | 159 | | 7-29 | 116 | | | 22-27 | 96 | | 10, 11 | 144 | | 30-35 | 117 | | XVI. | 1-36 | 97 | | 12 | 139 | XXXIII. | 1-18 | 117 | | XVII. | 1-16 | 99 | | 13 | 153 | | 19-23 | 118 | | XVIII. | 1-27 | 155 | | 14-17 | 138 | XXXIV. | 1-9 | 118 | | XIX. | 1, 2 | 100 | | 18 | 140 | | 10-35 | 119 | | | 3-9 | 103 | | 19 | 147 | XXXV. | 1-3 | 139 | | | 10-25 | 104 | | 10 | 160 | | 4-35 | 120 | | XX. | 1 | 105 | | 20-33 | 113 | XXXVI. | 1-7 | 120 | | | 2-6 | 103 | XXIV. | 1, 2 | 1 5 | | 8-38 | 1 1 | | | 7-11 | 107 | | 3-8 | 114 | XXXVII. | 1-23 | 122 | | | 12-14 | 108 | | 9-18 | 115 | | 29 | 123 | | | 15-17 | 109 | XXV. | 1-9 | 1.0 | XXXVIII. | 1-20 | 124 | | | 18-21 | 112 | | 10-40 | 122 | | 21-31 | 120 | | | 22-26 | 113 | XXVI. | 1-33 | 121 | XXXIX. | 1-31 | 125 | | XXI. | 1 | 113 | | 34, 35 | 122 | | 32-43 | 126 | | | 2-11 | 145 | | 36, 37 | 121 | XL. | 1-11 | 126 | | | 12-14 | 158 | XXVII. | 1-19 | 124 | | 12-15 | 127 | | | 15-36 | 157 | | 20, 21 | 123 | | 16-35 | 126 | | XXII. | 1-15 | 157 | XXVIII. | 1-43 | 125 | | 36-38 | 164 | | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | I. | 1-17 | 133 | XVIII. | 21 | 153 | XX. | 27 | 153 | | II. | 1-16 | 134 | | 22-30 | 152 | XXI. | 1-24 | 129 | | III. | 1-17 | 135 | XIX. | 1, 2 | 110 | XXII. | 1-16 | 129 | | IV. | 1-35 | 136 | | 3, 4 | 161 | | 17-33 | 132 | | V. | 1-13 | 136 | | 5-8 | 135 | XXIII. | 1, 2 | 138 | | | 14-19 | 137 | | 9, 10 | 159 | | 3 | 139 | | VI. | 1-7 | 137 | | 11, 12 | 161 | | 4 | 138 | | | 8-13 | 133 | | 13 | 159 | | 5-14 | 140 | | | 14-18 | 134 | | 14 | 161 | | 15-21 | 141 | | | 19-23 | 127 | | 15 | 156 | | 22 | 159 | | | 24-30 | 136 | | 16-18 | 161 | | 23-25 | 141 | | VII. | 1-6 | 137 | | 18 | 110 | | 26-32 | 142 | | | 7-10 | 129 | | 19 | 161 | | 33 44 | 143 | | | 11-21 | 135 | | 20-22 | 152 | XXIV. | 1-9 | 123 | | | 22-27 | 148 | | 23-25 | 147 | | 10-21 | 157 | | | 28-30 | 135 | | 26 | 148 | | 17, 21 | 158 | | | 31-38 | 129 | | 27, 28 | 161 | | 22 | 159 | | VIII. | 1-36 | 127 | | 29 | 152 | | 23 | 157 | | IX. | 1-24 | 128 | | 30 | 161 | XXV. | 1-34 | 144 | | X. | 1-20 | 163 | | 31 | 153 | | 35-38 | 159 | | XI. | 1-47 | 148 | | 32 | 161 | | 39-55 | 145 | | XII. | 1-8 | 150 | | 33, 34 | 159 | XXVI. | 1 | 153 | | XIII. | 1-59 | 149 | | 35-37 | 161 | | 2 | 161 | | XIV. | 1-57 | 149 | XX. | 1-6 | 153 | | 3-13 | 190 | | XV. | 1-33 | 150 | | 7, 8 | 110 | | 14-46 | 191 | | XVI. | 1-34 | 142 | | 9 | 157 | XXVII. | 1-29 | 146 | | XVII. | 1-16 | 132 | | 10-24 | 152 | | 30-34 | 147 | | XVIII. | 1-20 | 152 | | 24-26 | 148 | | | | This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ De. 33 1 AND this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of 2 Israel before his death. And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, And rose from Seir unto them ; He shined forth from mount Faran, And he came from the ten thousands of holy ones : At his right hand was a fiery law unto them. 3. Yea, he loveth the peoples ; All his saints are in thy hand : And they sat down at thy feet ; Every one shall receive of thy words. 4. Moses commanded us a law, An inheritance for the assembly of Jacob. 5. And he was king in Jeshurun, When the heads of the people were gathered, All the tribes of Israel together. 6. Let Reuben live, and not die ; Yet let his men be few. 7. And this is the blessing of Judah : and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, And bring him in unto his people : With his hands he contended for himself ; And thou shalt be an help against his adversaries. 8. And of Levi he said, Thy Thummim and thy Urim are with thy godly one, Whom thou didst prove at Massah, With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah ; 9. Who said of his father, and of his mother, I have not seen him ; Neither did he acknowledge his brethren, Nor knew he his own children : For they have observed thy word, And keep thy covenant. 10. They shall teach Jacob thy judgements, And Israel thy law : They shall put incense before thee, And whole burnt offering upon thine altar. 11. Bless, LORD, his substance, And accept the work of his hands : Smite through the loins of them that rise up against him, And of them that hate him, that they rise not again. 12. Of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him ; He covereth him all the day long, And he dwelleth between his shoulders. 13. And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land ; For the precious things of heaven, for the dew, And for the deep that coucheth beneath, 14. And for the precious things of the fruits of the sun, And for the precious things of the growth of the moons, 15. And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, And for the precious things of the everlasting hills, 16. And for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof, And the good will of him that dwelt in the bush : Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, And upon the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. 17. The firstling of his bullock, majesty is his ; And his horns are the horns of the wild-ox : With them he shall push the peoples all of them, even the ends of the earth : And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim And they are the thousands of Manasseh. 18. And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out ; And, Issachar, in thy tents. 19. They shall call the peoples unto the mountain ; There shall they offer sacrifices of righteousness : For they shall suck the abundance of the seas, And the hidden treasures of the sand. 20. And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad : He dwelleth as a lioness, And teareth the arm, yea, the crown of the head. 21. And he provided the first part for himself, For there was the lawgiver's portion reserved; And he came with the heads of the people, He executed the justice of the LORD, And his judgements with Israel. 22. And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp, That leapeth forth from Bashan. 23. And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, And full with the blessing of the LORD: Possess thou the west and the south. 24. And of Asher he said, Blessed be Asher with children; Let him be acceptable unto his brethren, And let him dip his foot in oil. 25. Thy bars shall be iron and brass; And as thy days, so shall thy strength be. 26. There is none like unto God, O Jeshurun, Who rideth upon the heaven for thy help, And in his excellency on the skies. 27. The eternal God is thy dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms: And he thrust out the enemy from before thee, And said, Destroy. 28. And Israel dwelleth in safety, The fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of corn and wine; Yea, his heavens drop down dew. 29. Happy art thou, O Israel: Who is like unto thee, a people saved by the LORD, The shield of thy help, And that is the sword of thy excellency! And thine enemies shall submit themselves unto thee; And thou shalt tread upon their high places. Before ascending Mount Nebo, to take a view of the land he was not permitted to enter and then to die, Moses took farewell of the people he had so long guided and ruled, by pronouncing on them a blessing in their several tribes. This blessing was probably spoken on the same day as the song recorded in the preceding chapter, and to the same assembly. The one may be regarded as the counterpart of the other. In the song, Moses dwells chiefly on the calamities that were to befall the people because of their apostasy; in the blessing, he depicts the benefits that were to be enjoyed by them through the Divine favor. The tone of the one is sombre and minatory; the tone of the other is serene and cheering. The one presents the darker side, the other the brighter side, of Israel's fortunes. Both were fitting utterances for the occasion; the one the farewell warning, the other the farewell benediction, of him who had so long proved them and known their ways; who, while he desired their welfare, feared they might forfeit this by their folly and sin; and who sought, both by warning and by blessing, to encourage them to pursue that course by which alone prosperity and happiness could be secured. W. L. A. This blessing follows the impulses of the great heart of Moses, now a patriarch of one hundred and twenty years, who had long outlived the associates of his earlier days; who had suffered and borne everything for his people and had labored for them more than a father for his sons and daughters. While the "Song" is largely in the minor strain—a sad prophetic vision of the nation's future apostasies and consequent ca lamities, this chapter is pure benediction—the outpouring of hopeful prayers and heartfelt good wishes, with no shade of anticipated disaster, no foreseen calamities. H. C.—Like the blessing of Jacob (Gen. 49), to which it has an intimate though independent correspondence throughout, it is the solemn farewell of the earthly head of the race. A comparison will show how the blessings uttered by Moses over the several tribes partly repeat, partly enlarge and supplement, and sometimes modify or even reverse, the predictions of the dying Jacob. The characteristics of the blessing are such as distinctly suit the place which it occupies in the Pentateuch, both as to time and circumstance. The total absence of warning and reproof has been rightly noted as indicating that Moses is here speaking of the ideal Israel, of the people of God as they might and would have been but for their perverseness, rather than foretelling what would in fact be the fate and fortunes of the twelve tribes. As then the song sets forth the calamities with which God's justice will visit Israel's fall, so does the blessing describe the glory and greatness which would from his mercy crown Israel's faithfulness. The song and the blessing are therefore correspondent, and mutually supplementary. The form into which the blessing is thrown exhibits the several tribes co-operating, each according to its peculiar characteristics and circumstances, for the accomplishment of the national mission. Moses when he spoke it had no doubt his coadjutor and successor Joshua by his side, who also shared in the prophetic spirit by which the blessing was dictated. Espin. The blessing contains an introduction (verses 1-5); the benedictions pronounced on the tribes individually (verses 6-25); a conclusion (verses 26-29). 1-5. Introduction. The blessing opens with an allusion to the making of the covenant and the giving of the Law at Sinai, when the Lord revealed himself in glory and majesty as the King of Israel, in order at the outset to fix the minds of the people on the source whence alone blessing could come to them. God's love to Israel is celebrated, and the intention and end of his choice and elevation of Israel to be his people is declared. 1. Moses the man of God. This appellation is applied to Moses only here and in Josh. 14:6 and the heading of Ps. 90. The phrase, "man of God," indicates one favored with Divine communications, and employed as God's messenger to men (cf. 1 Sam. 9:6; 1 Kings 12:22). In this heading, the author of the blessing is clearly distinguished from the person by whom it was inserted in this place. By describing Moses as "the man of God," the author of this heading clearly distinguishes himself from Moses, and applies to him a phrase by which, apparently, it was customary at a later period to designate him (compare Josh. 14:6; Ps. 90:1). Moses must be accredited with the authorship of it; and if he was the author of it, he probably also committed it to writing—else how could it have been preserved? W. L. A. The blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. Like the dying song, it is rich in poetry and full of majesty. It may be regarded as the crown of the Mosaic theology. The theology of the Pentateuch is marvellously comprehensive and complete. We are so accustomed to look upon the five books of Moses as but a small part of the Bible, that we often fail to realize how complete a revelation it is in itself. J. M. G. 2. Here begin the words of Moses. He commences by depicting the majesty of Jehovah as he appeared to Israel when he came to make the covenant with them and give them his Law. The Lord came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them. Seir is the mountain land of Edom to the east of Sinai. Mount Paran is probably the range of lofty hills which form the southern boundary of the promised land to the north of the desert of Et-Tih. These places are not mentioned as scenes of different manifestations of the Divine glory, but as indicating the extent to which the one manifestation given at Sinai reached. The light of the Divine glory that rested on Sinai was reflected also from the mountains of Seir and Paran (cf. Hab. 3:3; Judges 5:4). W. L. A. Under a beautiful metaphor, borrowed from the dawn and progressive splendor of the sun, the majesty of God is sublimely described as a Divine light which appeared in Sinai, and scattered its beams on all the adjoining region in directing Israel's march to Canaan. In these descriptions of a theophania, God is represented as coming from the south, and the allusion is in general to the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai; but other mountains in the same direction are mentioned with it. Jamieson. Heart and soul, Moses was a legislator. He saw the grandeur, the eternity, the utility of law. The "ruling passion was strong in death." The splendid manifestation of God's majesty at Sinai again passed before the eye of memory. All those splendors of royal state were destined to illustrate the intrinsic majesty of law. That entire epiphany of God culminated in this significant act: "from his right hand went a fiery law"—a Divine force to soften, melt, purify, and consume. 3. To reveal to men his law is a Divine equivalent for largest blessing. God's Law is the outcome of his love. The spring and motive of this stately display of law is deep and generous love. "Yea, he loved the people." D. D. 5. The gathering together refers to the assembling of the people at Sinai, when Jehovah came forth as their King to give them his Law. Verses 6-25. With these may be compared the blessing which Jacob pronounced on his sons as representing the tribes of which they were the heads. The two resemble each other in many points; the differences are such as naturally arose from the different relations of the speakers to the objects of their address, and the changes in the condition and prospects of the tribes which during the lapse of centuries had come to pass. 6. Reuben. Though the rights of primogeniture had been withdrawn from Reuben, and Jacob had declared that he should not excel, Moses here assures the tribe of continuance, and even prosperity. Their number was not to be small; which was, perhaps, said to comfort them, in view of the fact that their numbers had greatly diminished in the course of their wanderings in the desert. W. L. A.—The tribe had decreased since the Exodus, and in later times its numbers, even when counted with the Gadites and the half of Manasseh, were fewer than that of the Reubenites alone at the census of Nu. 1. They took possession of a large and fertile district east of Jordan. Occupied with their flocks and herds, they appear soon after the days of Joshua to have lost their early energy; they could not be roused to take part in the national rising against Jabin (Judges 5:15, 16). They do not seem to have cared to complete the conquest of their own territory; and even the cities assigned them were wrested from them by the Moabites. From this tribe no judge, prophet, or national hero arose. The tribe of Simeon, which would according to the order of birth come next, though of course comprehended in the general blessing bestowed upon the whole people, is not here named. This omission is explained by reference to the words of Jacob concerning Simeon (Gen. 49:7). This tribe with Levi was to be "scattered in Israel." The fulfilment of this prediction was in the case of Levi so ordered as to carry with it honor and blessing; but no such reversal of punishment is granted to Simeon. Rather had this latter tribe added new sins to those which Jacob denounced (Nu. 25). Accordingly, though very numerous at the Exodus, it had surprisingly diminished before the death of Moses; and found eventually an adequate territory within the limits of Judah. The tribe is mentioned as making certain conquests along with Judah (Judges 1:17); and is probably "the remnant of the people" spoken of (1 Kings 12:23) as constituting, together with Judah and Benjamin, the forces of Rehoboam. Espin. 7. The blessing on Judah is in the form of prayer to Jehovah. As Jacob had promised to Judah supremacy over his brethren and success in war, so Moses here names him next after Reuben, whose pre-eminence he had assumed, and prays for him that, going forth at the head of the tribes, he might return in triumph, being helped of the Lord. W. L. A. 8-11. Moses is large in blessing the tribe of Levi, not so much because it was his own tribe (for he takes no notice of his relation to it), as because it was God's tribe. H—The tribe of Levi as a whole became in a sense God's "Holy One," bearing in the person of Aaron these insignia. God had proved them at Massah and Meribah where the people murmured against Moses and Aaron. It was especially in the scenes of the calf-worship (Ex. 32) and of the Midianites (Nu. 25) that the tribe of Levi, and particularly Phineas, proved themselves true to God, with higher regard for him and his honor than for father, mother, brethren, or children; for they remembered and honored God's Word and covenant. Let them therefore have the functions of the priesthood, to teach Jacob thy Law and to minister at the national altar. H. C.—The Levites were not only commissioned to instruct the people in the Law of Moses, but were also appointed by that law to be judges and interpreters of it in civil as well as in religious cases. They actually enjoyed this power in its full extent for many centuries. Durell. 12-17. Joseph, including Ephraim and Manasseh. The resemblance of this blessing to that pronounced on the same tribes by Jacob is obvious both in thoughts and words; and in both the exuberant fertility of the large districts allotted to the descendants of Joseph is a leading feature. Yet the words of Moses are far from being a mere reproduction of Jacob's. The patriarch dwells with emphasis on the severe conflicts which these tribes would undergo; the Lawgiver seems to look beyond, and to behold the two tribes triumphant and established in their power. Espin. 16. Dwelt in the bush.** Many a time God had appeared to Moses, but now that he is dying, he remembers that time when his acquaintance with the visions of the Almighty first began, and his correspondence with heaven was first settled; that was a time of love never to be forgotten. It was at the bush that God declared himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so confirmed the promise made to the fathers, that promise which reached as far as the resurrection of the body and eternal life, as appears by our Saviour's argument from it (Luke 20:37). So that when he prays for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush, he has an eye to the covenant then and there renewed, on which all our hopes of God's favor must be bottomed. H. 18,19. Zebulun and Issachar. Like Jacob, Moses places first the younger of the two tribes. Zebulun possessed a commodious seashore, and the fisheries of the lake of Tiberias; and was therefore to thrive by commerce, and to rejoice in his "going out"—i.e., in his mercantile enterprises. Issachar possessed a fertile inland district, and would therefore dwell at home and prosper in agriculture. Espin.—These two are, respectively, commercial ("going out") and agricultural ("tents") tribes. They possess great wealth, present the most costly gifts upon the holy hill, and furnish the other tribes with the commodities of foreign nations. C. G. B. 20,21. The territory of Gad lay in the east of the Jordan. It included several cities remarkable in the history of the patriarchs and of the judges, as Mahanaim, Ramoth, Mizpeh, Succoth, and Peniel; but it was pre-eminently remarkable because it contained the grave of Moses—a fact which so decidedly invested the province with a character of holiness that, though situated on the east of the river, it was regarded as one of the most honored parts of the promised land, from which the leaders of the people might legitimately arise. Kalisch,—The blessing of Moses, like that of Jacob, upon Gad, has a warlike ring about it. He is spoken of here as lionlike in courage and strength, and also as being charged with the execution of the justice of the Lord and his ordinances with Israel. The character of this tribe is described with remarkable vividness in the Book of Chronicles. It was strong, hardy, fierce, warlike, magnificent in heroism, invaluable to friends, terrible to foes. Among them were “strong men of might, men of war for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, their faces the faces of lions, and like roes upon the mountain for swiftness;” “the least of them more than equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand” (1 Ch. 12: 8, 14). And amid all the conflicts which were inevitable to the Hebrews with the nations round about, such lionlike courage and hardiness would be invaluable in leading them on to victory, and in helping them through great crises of their political and military history. C. C. 22. Jacob compared Dan to a serpent that suddenly springs forth by the way, and bites the heels of a horse so that the rider falls backward. Moses here compares the tribe to a young lion that suddenly leaps from its lair in Bashan on the object of its attack. Both similitudes relate to the vigor and force which the tribe should display in conflict. 23. In Jacob’s blessing, Naphtali appears invested with the attributes of freedom, gracefulness, and graciousness; here Moses assures that tribe of the Divine grace and blessing, and promises to it prosperity and felicity. As the territory of Naphtali lay in the north of Canaan, and was far from the sea, the blessing here pronounced upon him must be understood generally of prosperity and felicity. He was to possess riches as of the sea, and genial and fructifying warmth as of the south. 24,25. Asher, the prosperous one, as his name implies, was to be rich, and honored, and strong, and peaceful. W. L. A.—The record proves how he was blessed with children; the olive-yards on the southwestern shores of Lebanon are, to this day, the most extensive in the country; and in the foundries and copper and bronze work of Tyre and Sidon were the iron and brass for his shoes. The consequence of this mingling among the heathen is soon evident in the subsequent history. First, there is the long catalogue of cities (Judges 1: 31) from which Asher did not drive out the inhabitants; but whereas, in the case of most of the other tribes which did not gain complete possession of their cities, we are told either that they could not drive them, or that they put them to tribute; of Asher alone we have the significant remark, “The Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out” (Judges 1: 32). One name only of the tribe of Asher shines out of the general obscurity—the aged widow “Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser,” who, in the very close of the Jewish history, “departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day,” till at the age of eighty-four she was rewarded with the sight of the infant Messiah. H. B. T. 25. As thy days, so shall thy strength be.** The original here has two words only, of which the latter is not found elsewhere. The sense is, “Thy strength shall be continued to thee as long as thou shalt live; thou shalt never know feebleness and decay.” Espin.—The day is often in Scripture put for the events of the day; and taking it so here, it is a promise that God would graciously support them under their trials and troubles, whatever they were. And so it is a promise sure to all the spiritual seed of Abraham, that God will wisely proportion their graces and comforts to the services and sufferings he appoints. H.—All seasonable succor and support shall be equal to the trials and exigencies of every day. And believers have found this to be the case through all generations. They have had their days of persecution, days of affliction, days of want. They have had seasons of temptation, of darkness, and of duty; but seasonable and suitable strength has been received; their strength has been in proportion to their day; so that they have not really been in want of anything for their good. So it is with the Christian now. R. Hall. Perhaps there is no promise of God’s Word which has more deeply touched the hearts of his people, or more frequently proved itself a balm in care, than this one. There is a distinct promise made to Joshua, “I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee;” but yet the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews bids the people whom he is addressing to make that promise their own. And so assuredly may the people of God in every age and land do with the promise before us. They have done so hitherto, and will do so till the end. C. C.—A precious promise this of universal application. Our days are under Divine inspection; our circumstances are under Divine control. It is better for the man every way that his strength should be increased than that the trial should be abated. The outcome is that the man emerges stronger, nobler, more highly developed. The supply is always adjusted to the particular need. D. D. 26. The points and accents direct that this should be read, There is none like God, O Jeshurun; and though all the ancient versions read as does the Authorized Version, the Masoretic punctuation is vindicated here by the following thy help, which shows that Israel is here addressed. W. L. A. The glories of Sinai are still in his mind when he speaks of God's "riding upon the heaven, and in his excellency on the sky." But observe in what character the majesty of God presents itself to him. It is not as a dreadful thing. Not at all: "who rideth upon the heaven in thy help." Moses is a true believer. He knows that even that fiery grandeur of Sinai was in his people's help, and the same thought rises in his soul as sprung up afterward before the rapt spirit of the great apostle to the Gentiles, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Sinai has no terrors for the aged believer, whose feet are firmly planted on "the Rock of Ages." J. M. G. 26-29. Conclusion. God's glory and power, and the consequent safety and prosperity of God's people, form the climax, as they do the basis, of the blessing which the lawgiver has to pronounce. Espin.—These words of unsurpassed sublimity and most exquisite poetry set forth the glories of the God of Israel and the blessedness of the people who enjoy such a Father and live under such a Protector. Perhaps we cannot give them higher praise than to say they are worthy of the pen of Moses—worthy even to be his last words—the noblest utterances of one who above any other mere man had communed with God face to face as man does with his dearest friend. The English translation is almost faultless, constituting one of the grandest passages to be found in English literature. In the last clause of verse 27, the high behest of Jehovah, hurling the enemy forth from the land of his people, is best expressed in the emphatic word, Destroy! H. C. Two great thoughts quite fill his lofty soul in its last moments. The first of them is this: "There is none like unto the God of Israel;" and the second is like unto it: "There is none like unto the Israel of God." Israel's God and God's Israel; the Saviour and the saved: are not these the two great factors of the Mosaic era? The great doings of God "when Israel was a child" make the grandest picture which the Old Testament affords us of the great salvation. How appropriate, then, that we should find at the close of these records of the times of Israel's childhood so lovely a miniature, setting forth so beautifully the glory of Israel's redeeming God and the blessedness of his redeemed people. J. M. G.—In this magnificent concluding passage it is the ideal not the actual Israel which stands before the great lawgiver's eye, and the language applies to the actual only in so far as it was also the ideal people of Jehovah. Its full application is to the Church of Christ—the Church catholic and invisible. Orr. 27. God is the Refuge or Dwelling-place of his people, their protection amid the storms of life, and the unfailing Source of comfort and blessing to them in their pilgrimage state. Over them is his sheltering protection, and underneath them the support of his everlasting arms. W. L. A. We need to have our eyes opened, thought set to work, faith made more real. If that were given, then should we know, as we had never known before, how wonderful, how sublime, how infinitely grand a thing it was to have this God as our refuge, and to know that underneath us were these everlasting arms! Orr. Every Israelite indeed is at home in God; the soul returns to him, and reposes in him as its resting-place (Ps. 116:7), its hiding-place (Ps. 32:7). And they that make him their habitation shall have all the comforts and benefits of a habitation in him (Ps. 91:1). Though they may be oppressed, they shall not be overwhelmed by any trouble. How low soever the people of God are at any time brought, everlasting arms are underneath them to keep the spirit from sinking, from fainting, and the faith from failing, even when they are pressed above measure. The everlasting covenant, and the everlasting consolations that flow from it, are indeed everlasting arms, with which believers have been wonderfully sustained, and kept cheerful in the worst of times; Divine grace is sufficient for them (2 Cor. 12:9). H. With this promise of the unparalleled friendship, the continual shelter, the unceasing stream of wealth the defence of God, the final triumph over all enemies, does Moses conclude his blessing. This blessing will only be rightly understood by connecting it with the foregoing prophetic song; and we draw the conclusion, that the people of Israel, which has these eternal promises, is the new covenant-people which comes forth from the old. Gerl. It was due to the standpoint of Moses, looking forth across the Jordan upon the earthly Canaan, beholding the earthly Israel just then entering there; Jehovah the shield of their help, the sword of their excellency, the scourge of their foes—this mighty God riding sublimely upon the heavens for their help, his everlasting arms underneath them forevermore—that this view should be primarily of scenes in the present life and not in the future; of earthly and material relations rather than of spiritual. Yet the manifestations of God in blessings of earthly sort foreshadow like manifestations in the spiritual life. The God who saves his people here in things of earth, in ways so grand, with power so transcendent, in a spirit so parental and so tender, may surely be trusted to save and shield and bless with his own God-like wisdom and power against spiritual foes and for the other world no less than for this. Surely there is none like the God of Jeshurun who comes in the tenderness of infinite pity to wipe away the penitent tear; to bind up hearts broken for sin; to place underneath all feeble souls his own everlasting arms; to bid away every spiritual foe with the mandate Destroy; and to gather home his redeemed in his own best time to his Canaan above, of which that ancient land of promise gives us only some poetic images and some illustrations of God's faithfulness and love. It is quite well, therefore, to exchange the earthly sense of this sublime passage for its spiritual significance and transfer its imagery to that world whose glories are worthy of sublimer strains than even these. H. C. With these grand poems Moses closed his long administration of Israel's government. For forty years he had been "king in Jeshurun," and the time had now come for his departure. With wistful, gazing eyes he soon afterward surveyed from the summit of Pisgah the length and breadth of the promised land, and then calmly died. It was a grand mysterious death, such as well became one of the greatest among the master spirits whom God from time to time raises up to fashion the destinies of mankind, and who in the truest sense are his "servants," sent to do his will. R. P. S.—The life of Moses—the whole choice and purpose and labor of a life of one hundred and twenty years, witness to his full and glorious faith in the future life. The men who deny to him this faith stultify not Moses, but themselves. H. C. COMMAND TO ASCEND NEBO, THERE TO DIE. THE ASCENT. THE VISION FROM THE TOP OF PISGAH. THE DEATH, THE BURIAL, AND THE ENCOMIUM OF MOSES. This brief final charge of Moses, spoken after his song and before his blessing, is placed here because of its fitness as a repetition and completion of the truths here considered. B. 46. Set your heart unto all the words: ye shall command your children to observe to do all the words of this law. Parallel expressions above: Verse 29, "That we may do all the words of this law," Verse 14, "The word is nigh thee, that thou mayest do it." These words state plainly The Practical Purpose and the Right Use of the Divine Revelation. The first fundamental requisite for the proper and effective use of the Word of God is the setting of mind and heart upon its study and apprehension, in order to the deep and permanent lodgment of its forceful and quickening truths in the thoughtful spiritual nature. Then will follow the second and ultimate purpose and use of the word; the desire and endeavor to obey its requirements, "to do all the words of this law." The leading utterance of the Old Testament and the New is one: KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS! The one purpose for which the Old and New Testament are given, for which all "the things revealed" alike in both are disclosed from heaven, is to invite and prompt and help us to this obedience. By our obedience, then, by our reverent believing reception of the Divine commands, by our grateful trust in the Divine promises, by a hearty surrender of will and consecration of life to do the will of God, and by these only may we (and "our children forever") wisely, rightly, and savingly use the priceless treasure of Divine revelation. B. The Sublime and Blessed Result of a Believing, Obedient Reception of the Revealed Word (verse 47). For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life. Life is more than the sum of personal enjoyments and pains through which it finds expression; more than the length of days in which it is visible to human eyes; more than the fulness of means which reveals to us its power. All these pass away, but in the process of their vanishing a spiritual result has been fulfilled. The soul of the man has been brought into fellowship—a fellowship welcomed or disregarded—with men and with the world and with God. It has consciously or unconsciously learnt much and done much. It has shaped a character for itself; it has helped to shape a character for others. It is at the end—most solemn thought!—as it has been used. Life, then, we can see, consists not in abundance, in the overflowing richness of unemployed resources; it springs not spontaneously from the things which we possess, from our original endowments, as the necessary product of natural gifts. It is the opportunity of the individual to win for God, by God's help, that which lies within his reach; to accomplish on a scale little or great the destiny of humanity as it has been committed to him; to consecrate, it may be, splendid wealth to common service; to transfigure sordid cares by a Divine vision; to rise to the truth of the incarnation as the revelation of the purpose of the Father for the world which he made. Westcott. The doing or not doing of God's will, the obeying or not obeying of God's Word, is a matter of life and death to us. This is the simple, solemn, uniform testimony of Scripture from its first page to its last. The Gospel, with its revelation of "life and immortality," only heightens the solemnity of the alternative. Instead of bare "life," it is now "eternal life" which is proposed for our acceptance, and which is lost or forfeited by sin. If "life" is the promise, the counter-alternative is death, and "death" accordingly is denounced against the sinner in Gospel as in Law. Death is the loss of all that makes existence a boon; the extinction in the soul of holiness, happiness, and love. Whatever the final state of the lost may be, whether one of active torment or not, it will be true death. The man loses his "soul"—his "life"—"himself." Oh, that men were wise, that they understood these things, and acted on their choice as wise men should! Orr. All that can give fullest value to this life and joy to the next depends on how we treat this message from God. "It is not a vain thing for you; it is your life." Apart from the acceptance of Jesus Christ by faith, and a life of loyalty to God, there is not a gleam of light or hope for the next life. If God did not allow his message through Moses to be slighted with impunity, certainly he will not suffer men to "trample under foot the Son of God," and then leave them unpunished! What dread, what awful possibilities as to the fate of immortal souls are trembling in the balance, while they refrain from "yielding themselves unto God"! How earnestly and frequently may we with reason reiterate the words, "It is your life"! All that ensures life here and hereafter being a blessing, depends on the way men treat Jesus Christ and his salvation. C. C. They will know most of the mystery who have done most of the Law. If we are waiting for the solution of the mystery before we begin obedience to the Law, the mystery will never be revealed to us other than in clouds and storms of judgment. We walk by faith, not by sight. Jesus said unto one of his disciples, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." This is the Christian's law of action. He acknowledges the mystery; he has no reply whatever to many an enigma; but he is sure that in doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, he is preparing himself for those great revelations which are promised to faith, obedience, and love. J. P. FOURTH ADDRESS CONCLUDED. GREAT PROMISES OF PARDON, RESTORATION, AND BLESSING UPON SUBSEQUENT REPENTANCE. LIFE AND DEATH, BLESSING AND CURSING, GOOD AND EVIL SOLEMNLY SET BEFORE ISRAEL AS THE FINAL WORD OF THIS ADDRESS. De. 32 48 AND the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: because ye trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. For thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither into the land which I give the children of Israel. De. 34 1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan; and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the hinder sea; and the South, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses the servant of the LORD 6 died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre 7 unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was 8 not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses were ended, 9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel heakened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded 10 Moses. And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD 11 knew face to face; in all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the 12 land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land; and in all the mighty hand, and in all the great terror, which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel. After many painful and perilous enterprises Moses hath brought his Israelites from Egypt, through the sea and wilderness, within the sight of their promised land; and now himself must take possession of that land whereof Canaan was but a type. When we have done that we came for it is time for us to be gone. This earth is only made for action, not for fruition. 49,50. Moses must go up to Mount Nebo, and die. The time, the place, and every circumstance of his dissolution is determined. That one dies in the field, another in his bed, another on the sea, one in a foreign nation, another in his own, is foredecreed in heaven. And though we hear it not vocally, yet God hath called every man by his name, and saith, "Die thou there." One man seems to die casually, another by an unexpected violence; both fall by a destiny, and all is set down to us by an eternal decree. He that brought us into the world will carry us out according to his own purposes. Moses must ascend up to the hill to die. He received his charge for Israel upon the hill of Sinai, and now he delivers up his charge on the hill of Nebo. Bp. H. Moses was the loneliest of men: lonely in his flight from Egypt—lonely while herding his flock in the wilderness—lonely throughout his long life of patient fidelity—lonely in his death and burial. Even while mingling with the multitudes of Israel, he remained secluded and alone. As the glory which shone on his face insulated him for a time from men, so did all his life his majestic nature. He was among men, but not of them. Gilfillan. The summons to that solitary mountain, every friend and companion left behind, alone with God in that awful solitude, all this is his and no other's. And yet look at it in another point of view, and what was it but the solitude of every death-bed? "We shall die alone;" these were the words of the great Pascal; and they are true of every man. We may live with others, but we must die by ourselves. Millions may have gone before us, and millions may follow after; but each one of us must gird himself for that tremendous journey alone; not Moses more lonely on the peak of Nebo; nor of all those weeping ones that stand around our couch, can one, even if he would, take a single step of that journey with us; alone, unless One be with us, a conqueror of Hades, a Prince of Life, who with his rod and staff can comfort those who pass even through the darkest valley of the shadow of death. Trench. Thou shalt be gathered unto thy people. This Divine assurance suggests one of the charms of heaven. Next to the ecstasy which God's presence shall inspire, is the rapture of reunion with departed friends. No question need distress us touching mutual recognition. Moses and Elijah were recognized as such when they came down in glorified state, and conversed with Jesus on the mount. Not a faculty shall be wanting there which we possessed here. "Then shall we know, even as also we are known." D. D. 51. Because ye trespassed against me.** Perhaps the life of no man in the Bible has the same rounded fulness as the life of Moses. It had so little of any flaw in the character, and it accomplished so much for the cause of God and man. But there was one part where the character broke down, and one at which the life fell short. On a great occasion his temper failed him, and human passion marred the tone of his mission. The penalty was that Moses did not enjoy what his heart was set upon—the view of the close of all his labors, and the entrance of his nation into the home God had chosen for them. It seems very hard that so great a punishment should follow a single offence, and yet it is not uncommon in the life of a good man to see one false step or one pause in self-control bring with it irreparable loss. Ker. Death, though it were to Moses an entrance into glory, yet was also a chastisement of his infidelity. How many noble proofs had he given of his courage and strength of faith! How many gracious services had he done to his Master! All our acts of obedience cannot bear out one sin against God. How vainly shall we hope to make amends to God for our former trespasses by our better behavior when Moses hath this one sin laid to his charge, after so many and worthy testimonies of his fidelity! When we have forgotten our sins, God remembers them; and although not in anger, yet he calls for payment. Alas, what shall become of them with whom God hath ten thousand times greater quarrels; who, among many millions of sins, have scattered some few acts of formal services! If Moses must die the first death for one fault, how shall they escape the second for sinning always? Bp. H. In the sight of the people the leader and lawgiver of the nation was visited with a punishment, which must have convinced them far more strongly of the unsparing character of the judicial severity of God than the most powerful admonition could possibly have done; but, at the same time, "though punished, he received due honor in their sight," that they might see the sun of mercy bursting through the storm of the judgments of God. As an example of justice, Jehovah caused him to die before the people entered the land of rest and promise; but as an example of grace, he prepared for him an entrance into another, as yet unknown, land of promise and of rest. K.—A hundred words, presented in the form of law and calculated to impress them with a sense of God's unspotted holiness, cannot exert so great an influence upon their minds as this one fact, that even Moses for his sins must die, no less than Korah or Dathan, outside of Canaan. And what a cause of shame to those who had made Moses sin, and thus to forfeit in one fatal hour the fruit which he had earned so well through years of toil! And what a warning, too! Van O. Chapter 34. As ch. 31 contains the conclusion of the work, where Moses designates himself as the author of the preceding matter, as well as of the song (ch. 32), to which belongs also the blessing of ch. 33, and thus the whole, as far as ch. 33 is represented as complete in itself, it follows that ch. 34 is a distinct section, plainly separated from the foregoing. Besides, this section is so closely connected with Joshua, ch. 1, as to give force to the opinion that De. 34 does not properly belong to the Pentateuch, and that it should be regarded as being the transition to the Book of Joshua, written by one and the same author. Chapter 34 should accordingly be viewed as an appendix to Deuteronomy. Havernick.—The account of the death and burial of Moses, and other particulars described in this chapter, may have been inserted by Joshua, to complete the history of this illustrious prophet; or were afterward added by Samuel, or some prophet who succeeded him. They were admitted by Ezra as authentic, and we have no reason to question the fidelity of the account. Dr. Gray.—This closing section of the book (34), by some other sympathetic hand, that tells how Moses died and was buried according to the Word of the Lord, and how the people mourned for him, and what they thought of him, forms a conclusion for the whole that is as fitting as it is moving and beautiful. E. C. B. Ascent to Pisgah, and the Vision Thence (verses 1-4). 1. And Moses went up to the top of Pisgah.** Moses went up alone to the top of Pisgah, alone without help; a sign that his natural force was not abated; alone without company; when he had made an end of blessing Israel, he solemnly took leave of Joshua and Eleazar and the rest of his friends, who probably brought him to the foot of the hill, but then he gave them such a charge as Abraham gave to his servants, at the foot of another hill; Turry ye here while I go yonder and die: they must not see him die, because they must not know of his sepulchre. H. Its Location. After testing repeatedly every view in the neighborhood, I am perfectly satisfied that there is none which equals in extent that from Nebo—i.e., from the flat ridge which rises slightly about half a mile behind the ruined city (Nebbeh), and which I take to be the true "field of Zophim, the top of Pisgah." The altitude of this brow cannot be less than four thousand feet above the Ghor, so completely does it overlook the heights of Hebron and of Central Judea. On these brows overlooking the mouth of the Jordan, over against Jericho, every condition is met both for the Pisgah of Balaam and of Moses. H. B. T. The admirable fitness of such a position, for the purpose had in view, is evident to the modern traveller, from the fact that, wherever he goes, in central and southern Palestine, the mountains of Moab are constantly rising on his sight, as one of the most prominent features in the landscape. N. C. B. 2,3. Thus minutely does the supplement to the Book of Deuteronomy describe the scene which lay open before Moses, when he was alone with God upon the sacred mountain of the Moabites; embracing the four great masses of the inheritance on the east, the north, the centre, and the south, with the plain that lay at his feet. P. S.—By anticipation the terms of the description are taken from the time, then future, when the land should have been allotted to the several tribes of Israel. A glance at the map will show that this enumeration of districts and localities is no chance one, but entirely regular, and as an outline complete. The prophet stands facing the west; the plain of Jericho being directly in front, at his feet; the sea of Galilee, in the distance, at his right hand; the Dead Sea, near by, at his left. The entire central plateau of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Judah is within easy view before him, across the Jordan; while on the limits of vision, to the right lie snowy Hermon and Lebanon and the Galilean hills; and afar, to the left, the elevations which embosom Hebron—loftiest of the cities of Palestine—slope downward, and fade in the haze of the great southern deserts. The language indicates a view by the prophet, beginning at the north, and sweeping round westward to the south. First is “all the land of Gilead,” the country of “spicery and balm and myrrh,” eastward of the Jordan, to be inhabited by the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He looks in this direction “unto Dan,” the northernmost city of Palestine. Next, a little to the west of north, he beholds, in the distance, “all Naphtali,” rising from the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and spreading around the head-waters of the Jordan. Turning farther westward, he sees the broad region of the favored son of Joseph, “the land of Ephraim,” with the territory of the other half-tribe of “Manasseh,” lying nearly in line beyond it. Next, his eye, glancing southward, and not pausing upon little Benjamin, beholds great “Judah,” extending by promise to the shore of the Mediterranean, and to the limits of the southern deserts—“unto the utmost sea and the south.” And last is the view directly beneath of “the plain of the valley of Jericho.” N. C. B. As the eye turns southward the peak of Jebel Shihan first stands out behind Jebel Attarus. Beyond and behind these sharply rise mounts Hor and Seir, and the red granite peaks of Arabia. Still turning westward, the landscape sinks in two or three lines of gigantic terraces as it descends to the Dead Sea, which lies beneath, like a strip of molten metal. Far beyond it the ridge of Hebron can be traced. Northward lies the deep bed of the river Jordan, with the site of Israel’s last camp. Beyond the river rises the top of Gerizim, and, farther still, the plain of Esdraelon opens, and the shoulder of Carmel, or some other intervening height, shows to the right of Gerizim. Northward again the eye catches the outline of Tabor and Gilboa. Snowy Hermon, mantled with cloud, and the highest range of Lebanon behind it, looks down over all; and to the north-east the vast Hauran stretches out till it joins the uplands of Moab and Ammon. Tristram, Beneath him lay the tents of Israel; and “over against” them, distinctly visible in its grove of palm trees, the stately Jericho, key of the land of promise. Beyond was spread out the whole range of the mountains of Palestine, in its fourfold masses; “all Gilead,” with Hermon and Lebanon in the east and north; the hills of Galilee, overhanging the lake of Gennesareth; the wide opening where lay the plain of Esdraelon, the future battle-field of the nations; the rounded summits of Ebal and Gerizim; immediately in front of him the hills of Judea, and, amid them, seen distinctly through the rents in their rocky walls, Bethlehem on its narrow ridge, and the invincible fortress of Jebus. To him, so far as we know, the charm of that view—pronounced by the few modern travellers who have seen it to be unequalled of its kind—lay in the assurance that this was the land promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to their seed, the inheritance—with all its varied features of rock and pasture, and forest and desert—for the sake of which he had borne so many years of toil and danger, in the midst of which the fortunes of his people would be unfolded worthily of that great beginning. To us, as we place ourselves by his side, the view swells into colossal proportions, as we think how the proud city of palm-trees is to fall before the hosts of Israel; how the spear of Joshua is to be planted on height after height of those hostile mountains; what series of events, wonderful beyond any that had been witnessed in Egypt or in Sinai, would in afterages be enacted on the narrow crest of Bethlehem, in the deep basin of the Galilean lake, beneath the walls of “Jebus, which is Jerusalem.” Stanley. That Moses’s view of the promised land from the heights of Nebo was a view with the bodily and not with the inward eye, that he saw it in a state of perfect consciousness, and not in an ecstatic vision, is evident from the circumstances, as well as from the expression. There is not a word about ecstasy here. The antithesis contained in the announcement, that he should not tread with his feet the land of promise, but should see it with his eyes, compels us to think of the bodily eye. We have only to read the words of Jehovah in ch. 34 : 4, "I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither," and the statement, which follows almost directly afterward, that though Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eye was not dim. At the same time, the distinct and emphatic account of what he saw (verses 1-3), and the expression, "Jehovah showed him the land," force us to the conclusion, that his natural power of vision was in some way or other miraculously increased. The very unnecessary question—Where did the author of De. 34 learn all this?—may be very simply answered. He was acquainted with the commands and promises of Jehovah in Nu. 27 : 12, 13 and De. 32 : 49 sqq., and the Spirit of God, under whose teaching the whole was written, assured him that the announcements contained in these words were actually fulfilled. K. 4. From Nebo he looked down on the palm-trees of Jericho, close under his feet, and from the deep warm valley through which the Jordan was gleaming far across to yon boundless sea; from Jezreel, with its waving corn, to Eshool, with its luxuriant vines; from Bashan, with its kine, to Carmel, with its rocks dropping honey; from Lebanon, with its rampart of snow, south again to the dim edge of the desert: and as he feasted his eyes on what had so long been the land very far off; as the splendid domain spread out, hill and valley, field and forest, in the bright garb of spring, the Lord said, "This is the land!" "This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to thy seed." But beautiful and overwhelming as it was, just then there began to rise on Moses's sight a still more wondrous scene. It was no longer the Jordan, with its palms, but a river of water clear as crystal, and on either side of it a tree of life o'ercanopying. It was no longer Nebo's rocky summit, but a great white throne, and round it light inaccessible. He is in a better land than the land of promise! Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see that sight. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit that better land. Hamilton. Enough, doubtless, of the full purpose of God toward his people, and toward the world, was revealed to the prophet, to remove all feeling of disappointment that he should not be permitted to cross the Jordan and set foot on the shore of Canaan. Enough was revealed to absorb what was merely personal into the Divine glory. Ay, and methinks that such a view of the glories of the heavenly Canaan was lifted upon the prospect of the earthly land of promise, that the meek though mighty saint of God, now ripe for the heavenly inheritance, was ready to forego the rest from wandering assured to his people in the land before them for "the rest which remaineth to the people of God." N. C. B. As he saw it, and understood, if not all, yet much of the significance of that land for all the after-history of mankind, how it should be indeed a holy land, for it should be once trodden by the feet of One, a prophet like unto him, and greater than him, for he should be Moses and Joshua in one, and far more than either, far more than both; as he saw this good land, may we not believe that he was comforted for all, felt that it was glory enough for a sinful man to have been used by God to bring his people thus far even to the verge and border of this land of inheritance? May we not be sure that with him was not merely a perfect acquiescence in the will of God, so that he accepted that will without murmuring or repining; but that he felt goodness and mercy to have followed him from the first to the last, and that no good thing had been withheld from him? and that so, looking in that supreme hour before and after, looking back to all the way by which the Lord had led him, and looking forward to a land of inheritance, fairer, richer, brighter even than that which he now saw, but must never tread, the weary, much-enduring man yielded his spirit to his God; God, as the Jewish rabbis assure us, drawing out that spirit with a kiss; they meaning by this to express their sense of the serene composure, the painless peace of his departure. Trench.—Who shall say what sweet communion passes between the servant and the Lord when not a word is spoken? There was but one speaker and one auditor. The auditor who had talked so much, with so noble a voice, with so positive and royal an eloquence, spoke nothing, but died in the embrace of his Lord. Who can say what the measure of that reward was? We cannot enter into these mysteries; we can be drawn upward by them, impelled in noble directions by their influence. J. P. 5. So Moses the servant of the Lord died there. 6. And He buried him. In silence and solitude, at the top of Pisgah, alone with God, the great lawgiver, prophet, leader, passed away—passed to the rest which he had so well earned, not smitten by any painful disease, nor worn out by gradual decay—but still in the full possession of his powers, still with none of his natural force abated, he sank to rest—he “was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). The soul fled; the body remained, and was buried in some strange and mysterious way—not by Eleazar, not by Joshua—in a ravine of the mountain; but exactly where no man knew. He had no funeral rites, no obsequies, no monument; and hence there could be no after-growth of loving pilgrimages, no superstitious reverence of a holy spot, no local commemorative ceremonies. The grave on Mount Nebo was, as is the grave of Golgotha, shrouded in thick darkness, to after-ages an unknown locality. G. R. How faithfully to men, and also how kindly, would all our work be done, if we had our account, not to them, but to God, ever in our eye! Moses ascends the mount to learn God’s will, and when he has finished his work he goes to him to die, and to find from him his sepulchre. He, whose servant he is, takes him back into his keeping, in the spirit of that grand old psalm which comes down to us as “the prayer of Moses the man of God” (Psalm 90)—“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.” Ker. God buried him. The penalty of Moses’s sin was fully paid by his death; and this signal honor conferred on him after death was, doubtless, designed to sustain the Lawgiver’s authority, which without it might have been impaired with the people in consequence of his punishment. No man knoweth of his sepulchre. Bearing in mind the appearance of Moses at the Transfiguration, and what is said by Jude (verse 9), we may conjecture that Moses after death passed into the same state with Enoch and Elijah; and that his sepulchre could not be found because he was shortly translated from it. Espin.—We gather from the New Testament that Michael, an high prince with God, angel-protector of the house of Israel, guarded the prophet’s body, and rebuked Satan, who resisted its resurrection. That it was raised is inferred, from the appearance of Moses in a glorified body with Elias, on the mount of our Lord’s transfiguration. D. F.—He whom God buried, according to all likelihood did not see corruption, and was probably raised from his grave as soon as laid there; only just tasting the penalty of death, and then that penalty removed; as would all seem indicated and implied by the apparition of Moses, with Elijah, in a glorified body upon the Mount of Transfiguration. Trench. His death was announced by the Lord himself to Joshua, “Moses my servant is dead” (Josh. 1:2). So that there was no human witness of his decease; the account of which was added from revelation. Hales.—He that took charge of his birth and preservation in the reeds takes charge of his carriage out of the world: the care of God ceaseth not over his own, either in death or after it. How justly do we take care of the comely burials of our friends, when God himself gives us this example! If the ministry of man had been used in this grave of Moses, the place might have been known to the Israelites; but God purposely conceals this treasure, both from men and devils, that so he might both cross their curiosity, and prevent their superstition. If God had loved the adoration of his servants’ relics, he could never have had a fitter opportunity for this devotion than in the body of Moses. It is folly to place religion in those things which God hides on purpose from us; it is not the property of the Almighty to restrain us from good. Bp. H. “The Lord buried him.” There is a higher honor conferred on him than if all Israel had met to weep and lament, or the world assembled to his obsequies. God takes away the grave of Moses, that they may have before them, in full and undisturbed relief, the man himself. His words living and dying, his walk with God till God took him, all that he was to God and to them, in self-devotion and affection—these survive him and can never die. If they came to his grave, they approached the creature and its fleeting part; but in coming to his words and his life, they come to Moses himself and to God. And may we not see a similar lesson in this that the sepulchre of the greater prophet than Moses is equally unknown, and may we not wonder that Christians, under a system of spirit and life, have been more slow than Jews to learn the lesson? Once, and once only, were men invited “to see the place where the Lord lay,” that they might be assured it was empty, and refrain any more from seeking the living among the dead. If research the most patient has hitherto done aught, it has been to show that the spot has left no trace upon our earth. God has made the march of armies and the desolation of centuries do for the sepulchre of Christ what his own hand did for the grave of Moses. He could scarcely have condemned more strikingly, in history, that idolatry of place and form which has usurped so long the worship of the spirit. The Christian Church, no less than the Jewish, is taught to look to the life and doctrine of its great Lawgiver with this distinction, that we know most surely where he is, to draw souls to himself, and whence he shall come "to change these vile bodies, and fashion them like unto his own glorious body." Ker. Nebo, too, proclaims that the existence of God's servants does not terminate, but still goes on—nay, properly begins only at death; and the whole history of those who fall asleep in Christ admits of being summarized in these five words, "for all live unto God." Moses and Aaron—they and such as they still live! The Joshua and Davids—they still live! The Daniels and Isaiahs—they still live! Your godly friends that fell asleep, some early and some late—they are not dead, but they still live! He who gave Moses burial shall one day bring again with him, in glory, all those who have fallen asleep in Jesus Christ. Then shall they all be perfected—those who have been redeemed in early and in later days of grace—when Christ, who is their life, has been revealed. Van O.—"The dead" and "the living" are not names of two classes which exclude each other. Much rather, there are none who are dead. The dead are the living who have died. While they were dying they lived, and after they were dead they lived more fully. All live unto God, "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Oh, how solemnly sometimes that thought comes up before us, that all those past generations which have stormed across this earth of ours, and then have fallen into still forgetfulness, live yet. Somewhere at this very instant they now verily are! We say, they were, they have been. There are no have been! Life is life forever. To be is eternal being. Every man that has died is at this instant in the full possession of all his faculties, in the intensest exercise of all his capacities, standing somewhere in God's great universe, ringed with the sense of God's presence, and feeling in every fibre of his being that life, which comes after death, is not less real, but more real, not less great, but more great, not less full or intense, but more full and intense, than the mingled life which, lived here on earth, was a centre of life surrounded with a crust and circumference of mortality. The dead are the living. They lived while they died; and after they die, they live on forever! A. M. 8. Moses's memory is carried with the Israelites, as something sacred, from the wilderness into the promised land, now opened for their entering. His mighty spirit animates the words and deeds of Joshua; and when the latter, in his turn, forsakes the great arena here below, it is not till the people have anew been bound, by the most sacred oaths, to the observance of the whole Mosaic Law. And soon his image is found hovering before the minds of all those judges, kings, and prophets who were faithful to the Lord; the book of Moses's Law remains the basis of religious teaching and the record of God's ancient revelation throughout many ages afterward. Of all the seers who come treading in his footprints, which are ineffaceable, there is no single one in Israel that reaches such a height; of all the legislators who are still the pride of ancient heathendom, there is no single one that can compare with him. Where are they all—the Dracos, Numas, Solons, and Lycurguses, and all those who succeeded them? Their work has perished with them; that of Moses is as permanent as Israel—eternal as the God of Israel himself. To the whole of Christendom on earth, his word comes as a message sent from God; the history he writes is like a mine of gold; his life and death become a revelation of God's glory; and in heaven the songs of Moses and the Lamb still mingle on the lips of the redeemed. Van O. 9. And Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. Although dead, Moses still ruled. His spirit reappeared in his successor. The principles of Moses had been planted in the nature of Joshua: these had flourished and come to maturity. The memory of Moses was still a mighty power in Israel, and they "did," all though the days of Joshua, "as the Lord commanded Moses." The legislator had moulded and trained the warrior. Moses was promoted to higher honor, because Joshua was better qualified for this new work—the realization of Israel's destiny. D. D. Moses brought Israel to the borders of Canaan and then died and left them, to signify that the Law made nothing perfect (Heb. 7:19). It brings men into a wilderness of conviction, but not into the Canaan of rest and settled peace. It is an honor reserved for Joshua (our Lord Jesus, of whom Joshua was a type) to do that for us which the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh (Rom. 8:3). Through him we enter into rest; the spiritual rest of conscience and eternal rest in heaven. H. It was essential to the typical meaning and purpose of this history that Moses should not cross the river, for he was the representative man of the Law, and the Law brings no one into rest. For himself, too, it was better to depart. He got something nobler far than an entrance into Canaan—a home with God and the departed worthies. Yet there is something very touching in his death, on the very edge of the promised land. An end like his has been not infrequent among great leaders of intellectual or religious life. They labor and see not, or, if they foresee, enjoy not the fruit of their labors. A hero falls in the very arms of victory, a scientific genius surrenders to others the advantage of his discoveries, reformers and missionaries of truth and progress often die on the threshold of success, leaving it to others to accomplish what they could not continue, "by reason of death." A striking precedent there is in the death of Moses, the man of God. A lesson, too, of submission and contentment. D. F. # Divine Encomium of Moses (verses 10-12). God buried Moses. It was fitting, therefore, that he too should write his epitaph. Here it is, given by his inspiration, and, though written only in a book, having a permanence as great as if it had been graven with an iron pen in the rock forever. "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel." W. M. T. 10. There hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel.** Words like these can only have been written some time, but not necessarily a long time, after the death of Moses. They refer more particularly to the wonders wrought by the hand of Moses at the exodus and in the desert; and do but re-echo the declaration of God himself (Nu. 12:6). Espin.—This eulogy seems to have been added that the children of Abraham might place dependence on Moses until the manifestation of Christ; for although prophets were from time to time raised up, the superiority should remain with Moses, lest they decline from the rule of the Law. Two signs of his excellency are here recorded, his familiar acquaintance with God and the glory of his miracles. Calv.—Moses was the founder and mediator of the Old Covenant. As long as this covenant was to last, no prophet could arise in Israel like unto Moses. There is but One who is worthy of greater honor than Moses—namely, the Apostle and High-Priest of our profession, who is placed as a Son over all the house of God, in which Moses was found faithful as a servant (compare Heb. 3:2-6 with Nu. 12:7), Jesus Christ, the Founder and Mediator of the new and everlasting covenant. Keil. # Whom the Lord knew face to face. Others saw visions and dreamed dreams; he spoke face to face with God and was deemed worthy of honors never claimed for an Amos or an Isaiah. Somebody adds here, "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses." On its face it is a later addition, like the rest of the chapter. But it is the "amen" that confirms the letter of the history or the self-praise that seals the counterfeit. E. C. B. Moses was the first to disclose the glorious nature of God and his gracious relationships to our race, as the corner-stone of a great commonwealth. He was the first to proclaim, by his sacrificial institutes and teachings, the one principle that "without shedding of blood is no remission." He was the first to proclaim the elementary principles and the true basis of the noblest human ethics: "Be ye holy: for I am holy." He was the first to require of a people love to God as the spring of all obedience, and to assign as the reason for their love the care of God to them. He was the first who made provision for the education of a whole people in the things of God; with virtue and piety for its lessons, and the home for its training-school. He was the first who aimed at educating a people to self-government. Others might follow on in all these respects, but no one else ever could be like Moses in starting all this new national life, thought, and virtue, in organized form. And yet how much more than one like Moses do we need for a world's regeneration and a Church's education! "If there had been a Law given which should have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law." But "what the Law could not do" God has done through our Lord Jesus Christ. Moses can give rules. Only the Lord the Spirit can give life. A Greater than Moses has come, and has created by his power a new commonwealth, whose citizenship is in the heavens. In this "new Jerusalem, which cometh down from God out of heaven," lo! "all things are made new." C. C. # His Influence upon Human History. Calm and colossal, not so much distinguished by his individual features as by the mighty deeds with which he is identified, stands out the figure of that Hebrew lawgiver; and betwixt the romantic incidents of his birth and upbringing, his unparalleled achievements as the conductor of a national exodus, and his exalted function as the founder of the Hebrew commonwealth and the father of a new dispensation, no mere man has exerted a larger or more enduring influence in human history. Hamilton.—Of all the great men who have played their part on the broad theatre of human action, Moses is the one who has exerted the most pregnant influence on the destinies of mankind and on the direction and progress of civilization. His lofty intellect, his greatness of soul, his pre-eminent virtue, and his unequalled services in the cause of true religion and of republican constitutional liberty, place him at the head of those illustrious benefactors of mankind who here and there, though at intervals too distant from each other, embellish the canvass of history. E. C. W.—Nor was his memory confined to the single people which under his auspices became a great nation. Manetho, the Egyptian, spoke of him as the founder of the Jewish polity and the author of the Jewish laws; the Greeks became acquainted with his name about the time of Herodotus, and unanimously attributed to him the peculiar customs which marked out from all others the Jewish people. Historians of Egypt with one voice proclaimed that it was he who led the Jews from Egypt to the Holy Land. From Greece his fame passed to Rome, where attention was first drawn to him by Cornelius Alexander in the time of Sulla, and where he soon became known as “the Jewish legislator,” and attracted the notice of Apollonius Niolo, Trogus Pompeius, Strabo, Thallus, the freedman of Tiberius, Tacitus, Juvenal, Longinus, and others. Longinus called him “no common man;” Numenius, the Pythagorean philosopher, said that he was “very powerful with God through prayer.” Hecataeus of Abdera praised his courage and practical wisdom. G. R. The Hebrew lawgiver, considered merely in an historical light and without reference to his Divine inspiration, has exercised a more extensive and permanent influence over the destinies of his own nation and mankind at large than any other individual recorded in the annals of the world. Christianity and Mohammedanism alike respect, and, in different degrees, derive their origin from the Mosaic institutes. Thus, throughout Europe, with all its American descendants, the larger part of Asia and the north of Africa, the opinions, the usages, the civil as well as religious ordinances, retain deep and indelible traces of their descent from the Hebrew polity. To his own nation Moses was chieftain, historian, poet, lawgiver. He was more than all these—he was the author of their civil existence. Other founders of republics and distinguished legislators have been, like Numa, already at the head of a settled and organized community; or have been voluntarily invested with legislatorial authority, like Charondas, Lycurgus, and Solon, by a people suffering the inconveniences of anarchy. Moses had first to form his people, and bestow on them a country of their own, before he could create his commonwealth. The Hebrews would either have been absorbed in the population of Egypt, or remained a wretched Pariah caste, had Moses never lived, or never received his Divine commission. In this condition he took them up, rescued them from captivity; finding them unfit for his purpose, he kept them for forty years under the severe discipline of the desert; then led them as conquerors to take permanent possession of a most fruitful region. Yet with singular disregard to his own fame, though with great advantage to his design, Moses uniformly referred to an earlier and more remote personage the dignity of parent of his people. The Jews were children of Abraham, not of Moses; they were a distinguished nation as descendants of the patriarch, not as compatriots of the lawgiver. The virtue of pure and disinterested patriotism never shone forth more unclouded. He nobly declined the offer made to him by the Almighty, to substitute his own family for the offending race of Israel. The permanent happiness of the whole people was the one great object to which the life of Moses was devoted; so that, if we could for an instant suspect that he made use of religion for a political purpose, still that purpose would entitle him to the highest rank among the benefactors of mankind, as having been the first who attempted to regulate society by an equal written law. If God was not the sovereign of the Jewish State, the Law was: the best and only safe vicegerent of Almighty Providence, to which the welfare of human communities can be intrusted. If the Hebrew commonwealth was not a theocracy, it was a nomocracy. On the other hand, if, as we suppose in the Mosaic polity, the civil was subordinate to the religious end, still the immediate well-being of the community was not sacrificed to the more remote object. Independent of the temporal blessings promised to the maintenance of the Law, the Hebrew commonwealth was so constituted as to produce (all circumstances of the times, the situation and character of the people considered) as much or more real happiness and independence than any existing or imaginary government of ancient times. Let Moses, as contrasted with human legislators, be judged according to his age; he will appear, not merely the first who founded a commonwealth on just principles, but a lawgiver who advanced political society to as high a degree of perfection as the state of civilization which his people had attained, or were capable of attaining, could possibly admit. But if such be the benign, the prematurely wise, and original character of the Mosaic institutions, the faith of the Jew and the Christian in the Divine commission of the great legislator is the more strongly established and confirmed. Milman. # Moral and Spiritual Points of Character. The noblest trait in his moral character was his patriotic disinterestedness. He twice refused the tempting offer of the aggrandizement of his own family, when God threatened to reject the Israelites for their rebellions, and make of him "a great nation" in their stead. And he left his sons, without rank or patrimony, as private Levites, to subsist on the national bounty, in common with their brethren! Hales. —On the conquest of Canaan, Joshua receives large landed estates, but for the sons of Moses there was nothing more than their share of the Levitical offerings. Even the headship of the tribe of Levi belonged to Aaron, the elder brother of Moses; and upon him and his descendants the high-priesthood was conferred. They did consequently hold a grand position; but as for Moses himself, in 1 Ch. 6, after he has been barely mentioned, his race drops entirely out of the genealogy, while the family of Aaron is carefully described. R. P. S. He had great privileges; but he had also great responsibilities and trying ordeals. Heaven honored his intercessions with signal deliverances; but heaven punished his sin with a visitation so severe that nothing could better serve to magnify the Law and make it honorable. The promised land he might not set his foot upon; and yet God comforted him and God buried him. A paradox truly, but only on the hypothesis of unreality. Without an army, without the restraints of established customs and regular occupations, by the sheer force of his goodness, his disinterestedness, his supreme patience, and the favor of God, he led, as a father, for forty years, the most intractable and obstinate of peoples. The intrigues of his own family neither disheartened nor angered him. Alive as few others to the demands of even-handed justice, having for his great task the training of a people in the arts of war as well as of peace in a rude age, it is still the law of love to God as a rule of conduct on which he everywhere chiefly insists. Five several times he returns to it (De. 6:4 f.; 10:12; 11:13; 30:6, 20) with emphatic reiteration. E. C. B. All the great men of sacred as well as of profane history possessed some prominent virtue or quality which stood out in bolder relief than their other perfections. We think of the faith of Abraham, of the conscientiousness of Joseph, of the contrition of David, of the generosity of Jonathan, of the zeal of Elijah—but what do we regard as the dominant quality of Moses? The mind is perplexed in the attempt to fix on any. It is not firmness, it is not perseverance, it is not disinterestedness, it is not patriotism, it is not confidence in God, it is not meekness, it is not humility, it is not forgetfulness of self. It is not any one of these. It is ALL of them. His virtues, his graces, were all equal to each other; and it was their beautifully harmonious operation and development which constituted his noble and all but perfect character. Kit. His faith is something marvellous, something almost without a parallel. It takes him to God at every moment; it sustains him under every trial and disappointment; in a lifetime of a hundred and twenty years it fails him perhaps three or four times, otherwise it is a constant support and stay. To the last he has the eternal God for his refuge, and feels underneath him the everlasting arms (De. 33:27). Not even Abraham, "the father of the faithful," is more a man of faith than he. G. R.—"He endured," says the inspired penman, "as seeing him who is invisible." He had a vivid and constant sense of the presence of God, and a correct estimate of the relative importance of things seen and temporal, as compared with those which are unseen and eternal. This kept him from contamination during his early education, and while yet he was in the palace of the Pharaohs; and when the day came when he must take the one side or the other in that conflict which has continued through all the ages, he did not hesitate or attempt to temporize, but "esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Never more alluring prospects opened up before any man than those which the world held out to him. The throne of the greatest monarchy of his age was within his reach. All that wealth could procure, or pleasure bestow, or the greatest earthly power command, was easily at his call. But the glory of these things paled in his view before the more excellent character of those invisible honors which God set before him; and so, without a sigh of regret or a thought of sacrifice, he turned his back upon a position which he could occupy only by proving false to his countrymen and disloyal to his Lord. This faith sustained him in the solitudes of Midian, and animated him amid all the conflict attendant on the Exodus, and all the difficulties that confronted him in the wilderness. From the moment when he heard the promise, "Certainly I will be with thee," on till the day when he set out for Pisgah, he was seldom visited with misgiving. His intercourse with God was of the closest and most confidential character. Jehovah, to him, was a living person, as real to him as was his brother Aaron, and more helpful to him than any human friend could be. This faith gave him courage in the hour of danger, and calmness in the time of trial. Whether he was called to go in before the angry Pharaoh, or to face the mutiny of the murmuring tribes, he was equally sustained by the sight of the invisible God; and when at length he passed in within the veil, he went only into a higher and closer fellowship with one whom he had long known and loved. W. M. T. While busy with codes and their proper distribution among the centuries, the critics have strangely overlooked the lawgiver himself, and have completely failed to account for the conception of such a character as that of Moses, and the unique portrayal of it in the Pentateuch. Perfect it is not, for then it would be other than human;—but from that first sweet picture of the little child nestling in its cradle of papyrus leaves, among the reeds of the Nile, to that last, solemn journey to the top of Nebo, to get one glimpse of the dear land which, because of sin, he might not set his foot upon—unique, and to the final stroke beyond the possible reach of invention. Conjured into the history he was not, and could not have been; and just as little can he be conjured out of it. But in it, and of it, then the miracle, if miracle it be, is God's, and cannot be overthrown. And with the overshadowing personality of a Moses, indisputably fixed in the age of Moses, you have not only a sure and steadfast anchor for the documents that bear his name, but also a sufficient pledge of their genuineness and order. The material universe during these cycles of time since the exodus has been slowly undergoing change. The "everlasting hills," of which the Psalmist speaks, have taken on other shapes, gradually yielding to the touch of time. But this sublime figure of the ancient books, and those first great truths he uttered so long ago, remain unchanged. Our critics may succeed in obscuring, for some and for a time, the image and its historic setting; but to efface or greatly alter it were impossible. Like the palimpsest of the Gospel, it may be written over and over with other thoughts. But there will also be happy discoverers in the good time to come. The human will fade out at last, and the Divine shine through. E. C. B. God's work-day is eternity. His plan runs from the beginning of days to the end of years. Every sigh and groan of anguish comes up into remembrance before him, and every oppression and cruelty survives for judgment. The burdens of humanity grow already lighter, not heavier. The justice of the Almighty is not foiled. The year of his redeemed shall come. There is a future, and it belongs to Christianity; and there waits the redressing of every wrong. It is an inspiring lesson of faith the Scriptures teach us, when they show us the old Jewish prophets and kings bending forward as if to catch some note of the Bethlehem welcome, waiting to see their Messiah's day, and yet dying in faith "without the sight." There are two vivid scenes in the life of the great Hebrew lawgiver, not often brought forward among the wonders of his mission, which are affecting disclosures of that indwelling faith, which was the hiding of all his power: one, where he stood on the top of the mountain, not afraid, with a tranquil expectation, amid thunders and lightnings, and clouds and darkness, waiting confidently for the Lord God to speak at the beginning of his great work; the other, when, at the end of his trials and his life, he went up to look off from the top of another mountain, over the Canaan he could not enter, and then walked firmly down, without murmuring, to die. To us the Lord God always speaks by his Son, if we will listen; and to us the whole future is a land of promise, and every hour an outlook from Nebo, if only we have that unshaken faith that is ready to wait or to work, and asks only to be led. F. D. H. Christianity has been advancing for centuries through martyrdoms and defections, and great stones rolled to its sepulchre, and prophecies of extinction. But still it lives and moves forward to the throne its Author and Lord has already reached. The corn of wheat which dies and rises to the harvest is its symbol, and we must take it for that of our personal life. If we wish present success we may go seek it elsewhere, but if we desire the strength and peace which make a man independent of everything but God, we must find these in God himself, and in making heart and life submissive to his will. In such a life failure is impossible unless God himself can fail and his moral universe prove itself a dream. Should he give us length of days in the world, as he did to Moses, and usefulness and honor, leaving but one break, as break there must be, at the close, let us take it thankfully; but if, as he appointed to his Son, he send us defeat and disappointment, and forms of death, all through, let us take it hopefully. There is full compensation for failure in every true life, and the highest where the struggle and the loss have been the deepest. Most comforting of all, there is reversal of the consequences of sin when, in humble contrition and faith, the heart has been put into the hand of the great Healer. The shadow on earth's dial-plate is turned back when eternal life is gained, and the sun shall go down no more. We shall be waked up from our grave, like Moses, to have our heart's desire, to look on the land and on him who is the glory in the midst of it; nay, better still, to share it with him, and to know that "if we suffer with Christ it is that we may be also glorified together." Ker. GENEALOGICAL OUTLINE OF THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, INCLUDING SUBDIVISIONS OF FAMILIES AND BRIEF NOTES RESPECTING PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS. NOTE.—These chapters, in great part, belong chronologically to the period of the history considered in this volume, and contain detailed information respecting the family and tribal connections of individuals named upon these pages. Obviously it is impracticable, with our limited space, to do more than note these points as a helpful reference to the student-reader.—B. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | XII. | 15-20 | 140 | XXII. | 16, 17 | 152 | XXIX. | 1-37 | 127 | | | 37-42 | 92 | | 18 | 153 | | 38-43 | 139 | | | 43-49 | 140 | | 19 | 152 | | 44-46 | 124 | | | 50, 51 | 92 | | 20 | 153 | XXX. | 1-10 | 122 | | XIII. | 1, 2 | 147 | | 21-27 | 159 | | 11-16 | 123 | | | 3, 4 | 92 | | 23 | 156 | | 17-21 | 124 | | | 5-10 | 140 | | 29, 30 | 147 | | 22-38 | 123 | | | 11-16 | 147 | | 31 | 148 | XXXI. | 1-11 | 120 | | | 17-22 | 93 | XXIII. | 1-3 | 156 | | 12-17 | 139 | | XIV. | 1-9 | 93 | | 4, 5 | 160 | | 18 | 116 | | | 10-31 | 94 | | 6-8 | 156 | XXXII. | 1-6 | 115 | | XV. | 1-21 | 95 | | 9 | 159 | | 7-29 | 116 | | | 22-27 | 96 | | 10, 11 | 144 | | 30-35 | 117 | | XVI. | 1-36 | 97 | | 12 | 139 | XXXIII. | 1-18 | 117 | | XVII. | 1-16 | 99 | | 13 | 153 | | 19-23 | 118 | | XVIII. | 1-27 | 155 | | 14-17 | 138 | XXXIV. | 1-9 | 118 | | XIX. | 1, 2 | 100 | | 18 | 140 | | 10-35 | 119 | | | 3-9 | 103 | | 19 | 147 | XXXV. | 1-3 | 139 | | | 10-25 | 104 | | 10 | 160 | | 4-35 | 120 | | XX. | 1 | 105 | | 20-33 | 113 | XXXVI. | 1-7 | 120 | | | 2-6 | 103 | XXIV. | 1, 2 | 1 5 | | 8-38 | 1 1 | | | 7-11 | 107 | | 3-8 | 114 | XXXVII. | 1-23 | 122 | | | 12-14 | 108 | | 9-18 | 115 | | 29 | 123 | | | 15-17 | 109 | XXV. | 1-9 | 1.0 | XXXVIII. | 1-20 | 124 | | | 18-21 | 112 | | 10-40 | 122 | | 21-31 | 120 | | | 22-26 | 113 | XXVI. | 1-33 | 121 | XXXIX. | 1-31 | 125 | | XXI. | 1 | 113 | | 34, 35 | 122 | | 32-43 | 126 | | | 2-11 | 145 | | 36, 37 | 121 | XL. | 1-11 | 126 | | | 12-14 | 158 | XXVII. | 1-19 | 124 | | 12-15 | 127 | | | 15-36 | 157 | | 20, 21 | 123 | | 16-35 | 126 | | XXII. | 1-15 | 157 | XXVIII. | 1-43 | 125 | | 36-38 | 164 | | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | I. | 1-17 | 133 | XVIII. | 21 | 153 | XX. | 27 | 153 | | II. | 1-16 | 134 | | 22-30 | 152 | XXI. | 1-24 | 129 | | III. | 1-17 | 135 | XIX. | 1, 2 | 110 | XXII. | 1-16 | 129 | | IV. | 1-35 | 136 | | 3, 4 | 161 | | 17-33 | 132 | | V. | 1-13 | 136 | | 5-8 | 135 | XXIII. | 1, 2 | 138 | | | 14-19 | 137 | | 9, 10 | 159 | | 3 | 139 | | VI. | 1-7 | 137 | | 11, 12 | 161 | | 4 | 138 | | | 8-13 | 133 | | 13 | 159 | | 5-14 | 140 | | | 14-18 | 134 | | 14 | 161 | | 15-21 | 141 | | | 19-23 | 127 | | 15 | 156 | | 22 | 159 | | | 24-30 | 136 | | 16-18 | 161 | | 23-25 | 141 | | VII. | 1-6 | 137 | | 18 | 110 | | 26-32 | 142 | | | 7-10 | 129 | | 19 | 161 | | 33 44 | 143 | | | 11-21 | 135 | | 20-22 | 152 | XXIV. | 1-9 | 123 | | | 22-27 | 148 | | 23-25 | 147 | | 10-21 | 157 | | | 28-30 | 135 | | 26 | 148 | | 17, 21 | 158 | | | 31-38 | 129 | | 27, 28 | 161 | | 22 | 159 | | VIII. | 1-36 | 127 | | 29 | 152 | | 23 | 157 | | IX. | 1-24 | 128 | | 30 | 161 | XXV. | 1-34 | 144 | | X. | 1-20 | 163 | | 31 | 153 | | 35-38 | 159 | | XI. | 1-47 | 148 | | 32 | 161 | | 39-55 | 145 | | XII. | 1-8 | 150 | | 33, 34 | 159 | XXVI. | 1 | 153 | | XIII. | 1-59 | 149 | | 35-37 | 161 | | 2 | 161 | | XIV. | 1-57 | 149 | XX. | 1-6 | 153 | | 3-13 | 190 | | XV. | 1-33 | 150 | | 7, 8 | 110 | | 14-46 | 191 | | XVI. | 1-34 | 142 | | 9 | 157 | XXVII. | 1-29 | 146 | | XVII. | 1-16 | 132 | | 10-24 | 152 | | 30-34 | 147 | | XVIII. | 1-20 | 152 | | 24-26 | 148 | | | | This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/